Chapter 10

"Those are some mighty fine duds ya got there, Tommy," Applejack complimented as she loaded the last of the apple barrels into the cart. "Not bad fer only takin' uh week ta make."

"Yeah, and they breathe very well," Tommy lifted an arm and sniffed at his armpit. "Look, I don't even stink."

Applejack chuckled at his antics. "She did kinda owe ya fer getting' her an' Spike outta that mess."

"Nah, they woulda figured out some way to save themselves. Or you and your friends would have realized something was up and come in, guns blazing."

"Well Ah don't know what uh gun is or why they'd be on fire, but your right. Still, thank ya fer savin' my friends."

"Happy to do it. Besides, they were just dogs. Dogs love humans."

Applejack glanced done at Winona, who had practically been living in his shadow. "Hmm, Ah guess. Ah know Apple Bloom an' her little friends love ya."

"Hey, they're smart kids who're fun to be around, of course they'd love me." Tommy smirked and looked up at the small cloud that had been following them around all day. "Though it seems that not all your friends feel the same way."

Applejack looked up at the tall man in confusion before following his gaze. The small clump of rainbow colored hairs sticking over the side of the cloud answered her question. "*Sigh* Rainbow Dash! Get down here!"

"Nopony up here but us clouds!" the cloud called back.

"Rainbow!" Applejack growled.

A blue head poked over the side of the little cloud. "Ugh, fine." Rainbow rolled off the cloud's fluffy surface and freefalls toward the ground, opening her wings just in time to prevent any injury. She stood to her full height and crossed her arms with a snort.

"Now just were ya'll doing up there?" Applejack asked her shorter friend.

"Nothing," was the reply.

"C'mon, Dash. You know better than ta lie ta me."

"It's okay," Tommy said. "She was just making sure you were safe from the big, bad human."

"What? No, I'm-" Rainbow started, but stopped when she saw the sneer Tommy was shooting her. "Fine! I was. I still don't trust him," she blurted out with another huff.

"What? Why not?" Applejack asked.

"Because she's smart," Tommy answered for her.

"Huh?" both mares asked.

"Look, you guys don't know me from Adam. I, an unknown species, showed up out of nowhere, ticked off the princess after seeing her butt," Applejack growled, "accidentally, and was sent to your doorstep. I'm bigger than anyone around here, have an admittedly unsavory past, and have packed on muscle faster than it should be possible. Nothing about that is natural and therefore suspect. I don't blame her one bit for wanting to keep an eye on me."

Rainbow was about to agree, but she didn't want to give Tommy the satisfaction. Applejack, however, had to say something. "But ya ain't given us any reason to not trust ya."

"Do you fully trust Discord?"

"Well,… no… Ah-Ah guess not."

"So what makes me so special?"

"Ah… Ah guess it's 'cause ya'll been so helpful," Applejack answered.

"There's an old saying where I'm from, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled, was convincing the world he did not exist. Bad people can do nice things, Jackie."

"Hey! Ah told you-"

"So, Skittles, how about you and I settle this thing between us?"

Rainbow darted to hover directly in front of Tommy's face. "How?"

"You like to race right? I mean, speed is your talent? How 'bout a race?"

Rainbow burst out into a fit of guffaws. "*Bahahah* You and me? You can't even fly! How are you supposed to beat me?"

"Hey, you never know. We humans can be surprising. So, I win, you get to wear one of Rarity's creations for a week."

"And when I win?" Rainbow asked.

"I'll treat you to anything at Sugar Cube Corner." Tommy answered.

"Five anythings I want."

Tommy considered it for a moment. "Four."

"Fine." Rainbow held out her hand and Tommy shook it. "Where's the finish line?"

"Why not Sugar Cube Corner? You're so confident you're going to win, why not just cut out the middle man?"

"Uh, Tommy, can I speak to ya?" Applejack asked.

"Sure." The two walked off a few yards. "What do you need?"

"Are ya sure 'bout this? Rainbow is the fastest flier in Equestria. Even on the ground, she's darn quick. Trust me."

"I do trust you, AJ. Now shush. I know what I'm doin'."

Applejack looked at him skeptically. "If ya say so."

"Good enough. Ready, Skittles?"

Rainbow got into position next to Tommy. "Yeah, I'm ready," she answered with a smirk.

Tommy dropped into a starting stance. "Call it out, AJ."

Applejack called out, "Three. Two. One. Go!"

Both racers took off in a cloud of dust. Well, that's what appeared to have happened. When the dust settled, Rainbow Dash was already rounding the first turn. However, Tommy was still there, jogging in place.

"What the hay are ya doin'?" Applejack asked.

"Nothing. I'm just mucking with someone."

"Ya'll know when she figures out what ya'll were doin', she's gonna be awful miffed."

"So? She doesn't like me anyway, why should I care if she's happy? Besides, I couldn't have beaten her, no matter how hard I tried. Even if I did, I couldn't have bought her anything. No money." Tommy turned his pockets out as evidence.

"Yeah, 'bout that, Ah feel like Ah oughta be payin' ya fer all the work ya've been puttin' in around the farm here."

"Nothin' doin', Jackie."

"STOP-"

"I've been helping you because I wanted the experience. Then it was for these awesome muscles I've been buildin' here," Tommy flexed his arms causing Applejack to focus on them before quickly forcing herself to look to the trees behind him. "Besides all that, I just like doing it. It's good, honest work that one can feel good about completing."

Applejack looked upon the face of her friend, knowing exactly what he meant. "Yeah, I hear ya. Still." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a coin purse. "Here. There should be at least enough to pay fer Rainbow's treats. It's the least Ah could do after everything ya'll've done for me here."

Tommy caught the purse as she tossed it to him. He then tossed the purse up and caught it again. "Thank you, this is very kind of you, Jac-OW!" Tommy dropped to the ground, shielding his newly injured shin. "What the fuck!?"

"Ah told ya to stop callin' me that." Applejack turned and sashayed back up to her home. "An' don't cuss in my home!"

Some time later, Tommy limped into the cartoonish Sugar Cube Corner. He was greeted by the bubbly, poofy, pink, party pony, Pinkie Pie. She made herself known by wrapping her arms around his hips and squeezed him for all he was worth. While he could feel his hips about to dislocate themselves, he didn't want her to stop either, she was too fun. Besides, if she were at least two feet taller, she'd be pretty damn sexy. Instead, she looked like a child dressing up like some bar wench.

"Hey, Pinkie," Tommy grunted. "How's tricks?"

She giggled. "I haven't played any tricks on anypony today! *Gasp* Do you want to pull some pranks with me sometime?"

"Now that, sounds like a lot of fun, Pinks, but it'll have to wait. Has Rainbow Dash come in here today?"

"Yeah! She bought five cakes and said 'the giant slowpoke was paying!' I guess she meant you!"

"Yep." Tommy pulled the bag of bits that Applejack have given him. "I hope this is enough, 'cause it's all I got."

Pinkie picked took the bag from him and hefted it. "Eh, close enough! You can make up the rest by helping me out!"

"Sounds fair. What do you need done?"

"Oh, nothing much! Just a few things here and there!" Tommy had a bad feeling about the way she was smiling. Pinkie almost always smiled, but this particular smile was… unnerving.

"O-kay."

Tommy spent the next hour and a half 'helping' in the kitchen. Many of his tasks had been to simply life heavy sacks of flour, though Pinkie seemed more than capable of doing so herself. He scrubbed more than his fair share of pans and cookie sheets. He even helped with the Cake twins, who he found beyond adorable and only slightly bigger than pocket sized. Their sizes came in handy when Pound was trying to fly away and Pumpkin was walking through walls.

"Oaky dokey, closing time!" Pinkie announced as she bounced into the wash room where Tommy was busy scrubbing his last pie tin.

"Thank God. I think I preferred the apple farm to scrubbing and mopping," he complained as he inspected his pruned hands and stained clothes. "Aw man, Rarity just gave me these, too."

"Oh, that's too bad! But I'm sure Twilight has a spell that can get you all sparkly again!"

"Let's hope so. In the meantime, I just hope I don't run into Rarity. She would not be happy," Tommy said the last sentence over his shoulder as he ducked through the doorway, cupcake in hand.

Finally, after walking through the busy, closing marketplace, Tommy made it to the castle. He made sure to wipe his shoes off on the welcome mat, ignoring the powder that floated down from his dirty outfit. After entering, he made his way through the halls to the library, Twilight's favorite room. Once inside, he wished he was still within the trees of Sweet Apple Acres.

Spike was there, re-shelving books, as he normally does. Twilight was with Starlight, studying some seriously thick book, as they often do. But they weren't the issue, it was the other pony. Rarity was also there, reading a book that seemed to specialize in clothing of the past. When the door closed, everyone present looked up, most of them returning to their previous activity. All but one.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Rarity shrieked. "That outfit was one of my proudest creations!"

Tommy looked down upon his brand new rags. "Yeah, sorry about that. It got a bit tattered at the farm. Sor-"

He was cut short by a magical grip taking hold of him. As his skin went could, he was pressed against the wall by Rarity, who was storming her way over to him. "A bit tattered? A BIT TATTERED! You've ruined it!"

"Please," he begged. His words went unheard.

"Do you think I made those clothes for you simply to destroy them? Do you think I enjoy having my hard work disregarded?"

"Please."

"Um, Rarity?" Twilight tried.

"I can't believe you would care so little for my creation!"

"Rarity?"

"Please."

"If you think I'm going to fix this for you, you've got another think coming, I'll tell you that much!"

"Rarity!"

"Not now, darling. I'm busy," Rarity said over her shoulder before returning to her query. "You are going to work off what you will owe me for repairing this outfit," she growled as she ripped his shirt off.

Tommy's skin went from a simple cold sweat to clammy. His eyes were shut tight as he whimpered quietly. He was too busy shutting the world out to hear the gasps from the others in the room. For her part, Rarity was too occupied inspecting the shirt to notice them herself.

"Honestly. How can one pony do so much damage to an article of clothing in one day is beyond me."

"RARITY!" they all screamed, finally getting her attention.

"What?"

Spike pointed at Tommy. "Look. You're torturing him."

Rarity turned back to the human, who had completely shut out everything around him and was trembling, fighting his own bladder. The look on face horrified her. Rarity was not at home with hurting anyone, let alone tormenting them.

She immediately canceled her magic, dropping Tommy to the floor where he curled up into a fetal position, clutching his knees tightly to his chest. She watched him, dumbfounded at how such a big, strong, and seemingly fearless creature could be brought to his proverbial knees by something as simple as binding him with her admittedly weak telekinesis. Yet, here he was. The one who had effortlessly walked into a diamond dog cave and took over with nothing more than a stick and a whistle, was on the floor, rocking himself like a child in a thunderstorm.

"To… Tommy?" she said, reaching out to him with a well-manicured hand.

He didn't say anything. He looked at the hand for all of a half-second before he jumped to his feet and ran out of the room. He didn't even look over his shoulder. He simply put as much distance between him and the threat as he could as quickly as possible. The others could only watch, slack jawed.

"What… what just happened?" Starlight asked, breaking the silence.

"Princess Luna warned me about this," Twilight answered. "Apparently, Princess Celestia did something similar and nearly gave him a heart attack."

"Why?" Spike asked.

"She wasn't sure. But it wasn't simply because of the magic, though he said his world didn't have any. It had to be something psychological, post-traumatic maybe. Either way, restricting his movements seems to have a… negative effect."

"Ya think," Starlight and Spike said, simultaneously.

"I didn't know," Rarity said weakly.

"I know that," Twilight told her, "and I'm pretty sure he does too." Twilight looked to the door, "I think the best thing to do right now is to just give him some space."

XXXXX

Hannibal and Faust's little girls were adorable. For little girls, they were very smart. Also, I could tell that they were very powerful. The oldest one, Solis, was very outgoing and friendly. The younger, Lunae Lumen, was shy but very eager to please her parents. I'm a little concerned that Lunae may too anxious for approval. Despite their differences, they were both very good to each other. Solis was protective of her sister, and Lunae was always happy to have her at her little tea parties.

Thankfully, I had learned some time ago to enchant items of clothing to disguise the wearer. I could always cast a spell upon myself to change my appearance to that of a stallion, but that much magic is exhausting. Instead, I enchanted my robe and false beard. With either one on, I become Starswirl the Bearded. This disguise will allow me to interact with anypony without raising any alarms or fuss.

Hannibal and Faust were the only ones who knew it was me underneath. They also seemed happy to have me back, as there seemed to be some social unrest with the neighboring griffin kingdom. Hopefully, something will bring back peace before it gets any worse. Until then, I would be watching over the girls, teaching them what I know, and how to be good rulers, like their parents.

I also heard some rumors from around the nation about some very interesting ponies with some very interesting skills. I hope I get to meet them someday soon. They sound like they could help in a tight situation.

XXXXX

A knock on his door roused Tommy from his reading. "Go. Away," he answered.

"Tommy," Twilight called through the heavy wooden door. "Tommy, we need to talk about what just happened."

"No, we don't. Leave me alone."

"I can't do that. You're my friend and you're hurting. Friends don't leave their friends to wallow in pain by themselves."

"Friends also don't force their friends to do something they don't want to."

"Let me try," Starlight's voice came through the door. A moment later, the door was gone and a teacup was hanging from one of the hinges. "There we are. Now, what the hay happened?"

Tommy closed the Starswirl's journal and set it on the bedside table. He then sat up and turned his still bare back to the mares. "I think I told you I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay," Twilight tried again, "well, if you do, it might help Rarity feel better. 'Cause right now, Spike is walking her home. She was so shaken up but what just went on in the library that she was in near hysterics. Princess Luna said her sister was in similar condition when the same thing happened in the palace. Now, please, talk to us."

Tommy stood from the bed in one quick motion. He stormed out of the room, without looking at or touching the ponies who wisely gave him room. They listened to his footsteps echoing down the crystal hallway before the door was roughly wrenched open and slammed shut.

"Alright," Starlight said with a sigh. "That didn't work."

Twilight could only look on in stunned silence.

Tommy stomped through the town, ignoring ponies waving and saying hello. He had no destination in mind, which was made evident by his walking in circles through the quaint village. He wasn't mad at anyone. He was only mad at the world.

What happened to his Earth? That shitty, mean, unforgiving, dying world he called home. He may not have liked it, but he knew it. He knew when someone was going to try to hurt him. He knew how to get around or away from those people. He knew what how to fight off threats or minimize their damage.

This Equestria though… this place was too much. He didn't know when one of these weird pony-people was going to try something on him again. He couldn't stand this magic crap and he damn sure couldn't stand these girls trying to pry into his life. What business was it of theirs anyway.

Tommy was aware that someone had been talking at him for a while now.

"…and if you touched her," Rainbow warned, "I'm gonna beat you black and blue."

Tommy stopped and looked up into her scowling rose colored eyes. "What?"

"What did you do to Rarity?" she growled.

Tommy had had enough. With a speed that would make Rainbow jealous, his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. He thought about how small she was and easily he could break her arm without trying. Instead, he decided to set things straight.

"Firstly, I didn't touch her. Second, don't ever threaten me unless your ready to act on it. Third, leave me the fuck alone!" He let her go without doing any real damage other than a light bruise.

Rainbow rubbed her wrist as she floated away from Tommy. She wanted to be out of his reach, but she'd be damned is she was going to let him have the last word.

"What the hay is your problem, jerk?!"

"My problem is people won't just leave me be!"

"Hey, it's not our fault you become a big baby anytime somepony uses magic on you!"

Tommy was done. They all wanted to know so bad? Fine, he'd tell them.

"It's not magic that bothers me," came a growl of his own. "I have suffered enough torture in my life to deserve not liking being held against my will."

"W-what?"

To answer, Tommy slapped at his own torso with an open hand. The action caused the skin there to turn red. Almost his entire chest and stomach were now red, with the exception of six markings. Rainbow didn't recognize them, but she assumed they were some kind of writing. The marks had clearly been carved into his flesh and she doubted he had wanted it done.

The first two were similar in shape, some kind a snake with two angles, the second one on its side. The third was a simple vertical line. The fourth was shaped like a basic crescent moon. The fifth was one was two lines, one vertical, the second laid across the top. Lastly, there was two vertical lines bisected by horizontal one. It wasn't clear what it meant, but it meant something serious.

"W-what is that?"

"This," Tommy pointed to the marks, "is what they do to you in prison when to try to help the wrong person."

"Why?"

"There's a saying in prison," Tommy answered, "snitches get stitches. All I did was tell a guard to stay home on a certain day so that he wouldn't get his ass skinned like some of the other inmates had planned to do. They didn't like him because he had interrupted their gambling ring. He had done his job, so they were going to kill him for it. Instead, I slipped him a little note, he called in sick, his kids still had a father. For my pains, I got this," he pointed at his scars. "It took them a year to carve this into my hide. They did it one line at a time. They cut me, give me time to heal, time to think it was over, then they'd grab me, hold me down, do it again. And they were smart about it too. I never saw their faces, they never came at the same time or the same place, and they made damn sure never to hit me were it showed. The worst part about the whole thing was that they would hold me down so I couldn't even fight back."

Rainbow stared at the fading redness and disappearing scars. "Sweet Celestia," she whispered with a hand covering her mouth.

"There, now you know. Now, can you please piss off?"

Rainbow couldn't move. She could only stare at the horror that was inscribed before her. How could anyone do such a thing to one of their own? Tommy clapped his hands in front of her face one time. It was enough to bring her around.

"Huh, wha?"

"Can I please have some peace?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," she said as she floated out of his way.

"Good," he said as he walked past her and continued his aimless journey.

Rainbow watched him go as she slowly came to the ground and dropped to her knees. It was some time before she was able to pick herself back up again.