Shelter from the (muscial) storm. (Sunny, Closed)

[StrongCopper]

Accidental Allegro

 

All things considered, things were going remarkably well. Pipp had neither started screaming or throwing things at him, so they had managed to dodge the worst case scenario!

 

Being told that he was going to get a bath after being hosed down over a drain was not an outcome he had been expecting, but considering he followed her instructions without question he knew full well why the matter came up. "I've been staying in a number of different sea caves." He admitted, feeling the need to explain a bit. "I used to live in a house before then, but someponies burned it down years ago." Pipp would easily hear the notes of spite, fury and pain that seemed to be infused in his voice as he bought up what was clearly a sore spot... but there was also a natural musical tune to his voice that was hard to ignore. Like hearing a trained singer who simply wasn't singing at this given moment. 

 

"I was going to have a shower but..." He paused, trying to think of how to explain without having to unload everything on a mare he didn't know. "...We got a bit sidetracked by a few things. Sunny had this big plan in order to try and introduce me to ponies in general that she's really excited about and you were going to be a big part of that. So we came here." Speaking and looking over at Sunny as she briefly returned, Allegro seemed to relax and even offered a small smile her way. Looking back at Pipp, he shyly cleared his throat. "T-Thank you for not screaming... or throwing things at me. This is the third time that ponies have seen me as I am without the excuse of it being a costume and... well, my house being set on fire should tell you just how good the first one went."

 

In his mind, proper introductions could wait until after he was properly cleaned up and Pipp was comfortable talking to him without worrying about his appearance or smell. Until than, he was just going to be a good stallion and taking the hosing and brushing as champ like as he could.

[Dusty]

Pipp nodded along, making noncommittal sounds as she hardly heard a word being spoken. She wasted no time in hosing him down, even less time too grab up the brushes and soap to scrub him down like some filthy dog. Regardless of what he is, or was, she knew one fact of the matter. He smells horrible. And did not look much better. Whatever problem that was going too land in her lap can be dealt with after this problem is fixed. “Leg up.” She mutters, wasting no time too lift a leg up and brush over and under. Muzzle. Ears. Back. Barrel. Rump. Nothing was safe from her frantic cleaning. She did pose a moment to scrub at some scales and looked a little confused when they stayed put. After a few pokes to confirm they were in fact attached to his body she commanded Sunny to get the polishing kit….

 

 

After the better part of an hour of being commanded around the task was done. Allegro was the cleanest he has ever been. His fur was smooth as silk, scales glittered under the stars on hooves polished and trimmed to standard fit for royalty. Pipp gave him one last inspection before letting a smug grin pass her muzzle. “Not my best work. But passable for a rush job. Come again when it's not the middle of the night and I will give you a more proper clean up for free. Just once. Anything after that and you pay for it like the rest do.” She stepped away and looked over at Sunny, the mare she ran ragged like some servant over the passing hour. “So! Now that we cleaned up your friend to presentable what’s the problem? Something about a house burning down? Tragic but I can’t just go paying for every pony's new house.” She explained with a little shake of her head before stepping closer and leaning in too whisper. “Also, what is he? I’m trying my best here but I have no clue what he is. Never seen a pony with scales and fins.”

[SteelEagle]

Sunny was at a loss of words for two reasons. First off, she can’t believe they spent so long cleaning him off. She could only be thankful that the alleyway they were in had managed to be shockingly soundproof. She would hate it if they had spent so long out here that they ended up hurting Allegro and not helping him. By the time they were done, he looked cleaner than she had ever imagined. To be fair, she didn’t know what a siren was supposed to look like. She assumed all that grime came with the territory. But now he looked very nice! Striking, even. She wasn’t sure if it was because he was impressive for a siren or if it was she was impressed by a siren, but either way he looked a lot better now. And smelled better! Much better package. Ponies were now much more likely to accept him. Big win!

 

Secondly, Pipp was going to be a wonderful ally when it came to introducing Allegro to Maretime bay and that made Sunny giddy-up. 
“Well, that is because Allegro is not a pony. Allegro is a Siren. I don’t know that much about them, but they are a species from ancient, ancient Equestria- I mean, so old that even Princess Twilight only vaguely referenced or knew about them,” she said as she started drying him off. She was tired- Pipp had run her ragged- but she was too excited to feel it. She did a good job too, not wanting to let him wait a moment longer before being allowed into Mane Melody. "And now, I have this very cool plan to make sure everypony will be able to befriend him very, very quickly!"

[StrongCopper]

Accidental Allegro

 

Allegro... didn't really know how to feel in the moment. For almost an hour, he had simply allowed himself to be sprayed with water, scrubbed with brushes and outright polished in places with the obedience of a wall trained dog. He didn't complain, he actively tried not to fidget and any requests made to him was given without hesitation. Simply allowing himself to be told what to do was actually somewhat refreshing in its own right for reasons he couldn't really put into words.

 

Now that it was over and Sunny was drying him off he felt... clean. That wasn't to say that he had intentionally allowed himself to wallow in filth, but having been homeless for several years his access to any proper cleaning method outside of a shower down by the beach that was generally used to wash the salt and sand off before heading home was highly limited.

 

And in truth... he had forgotten what truly being clean felt like. After roughing it for so long, outcast from society due to not being something the herd could recognize as its own... what counted as being 'clean' in his mind had, he realized now, became a rather shallow imitation. 

 

The last time he had felt anything even remotely like this had been... had been before everything had gone wrong. There was a part of him that honestly wanted to cry at the reflection of his life in recent years because now that dark period was over he could finally see how terrible it truly was. He didn't. He wanted to and both mares would be able to see that if they looked towards his face, but he didn't.     

 

Taking several deep breaths, he turned to Pipp before letting the breath out and saying "T-Thank you. Truly, thank you. I... I've been homeless for years at this point, and alone for months at a time. After a while I just became... numb to certain things because after a while being a bit dirty and smelly was just the normal state of being. It wasn't until right now I realized just how..." He shook his head, closing his eyes as he took another deep breath to literally stop a sob from coming out.

 

At Sunny's mention of him being a siren, he felt the need to speak up again. "I'm not a full blooded siren. My mother is a siren, my father was an earth pony. Since the idea of anypony in the bay not being an earth pony was treated as a national emergency until rather recently, my father taking a non-pony wife likely wouldn't have ended well so we all lived in a house by the beach somewhat far away from the city." His ear... flicked a little as he stopped himself from giving the full story just yet. Clearly this mare was tired and they had other things to discuss. "For what it's worth, I'm not asking you to help me rebuild my childhood home. What you've done so far already makes me feel indebted to you."

[Dusty]

Pipp flicked an ear, eyeing this ‘siren’ up and down. She heard the name before in some games, but that was it honestly. Part of her didn't really believe he was one. He looked more… Pony than fish. And was male. Siren were all female! Well in games they all are. And sing songs too make you go hop into the sea and drown… Look, not a lot of games were sea based where she was from. Or shows. “Have too admit, I was expecting a bit more… Fish?” She whispered to Sunny before stepping closer to Allegro. “Well peas- Allegro it seems Sunny has some… Wonderful plan in the works to help you. Somehow…” She looked over her shoulder at Sunny with a raised eyebrow. 

 

“Does the plane really just make everyone like him? I think a homeless… Siren needs more than that Sunny. He needs a job for starters…” She looked back at Allegro with a warm smile. “How do you feel about working in film? You are pretty exotic looking. I bet you can make a killing doing some industry work or another in film or streaming. Hrm, maybe start out in streaming. Can get that going with just a phone even. Get some cash flowing for you! Also, look into getting a nice cart. You can make one into a small home pretty easily, just move it every day and no one can pester you much about living in it. If you need help with that I do run a charity for helping the mu- ah, Earth Ponies. You can ask for help from it and you can get food and shelter.” She explained with a warm, if tired, smile. She hoped she could clear this all up and get to bed. But with Sunny… She needed to get some coffee made didn't she.

[SteelEagle]

She had to hold a chuckle. No doubt Pipp was right. If you had told Sunny that there was a siren in town, she would expect something closer to the tall tales. But he was a hybrid, which proved in so many ways that love could come from any direction. Still, she kept her focus on Allegro. “You’ve been through a lot, Allegro, but I’m committed to helping you and now, so is Pipp!” Sunny volunteered her friend before turning to her.

 

“Oh, you betcha! Everypony likes a hero, right?” She asked as she trotted deeper in. Of course it would work. It was the best idea she had all week! “Getting him squared away will be important, of course,” she conceded, turning back to him, “and I’m gonna help you with that too, Allegro!” She turned back to Pipp. “That is important, yes!” She turned her back to them. “But we need to make sure that the ponies of Maretime Bay are open to him first, and everypony loves a hero. So we are going to make him a hero, because he is going to stop a villainess!”

 

She turned back around dramatically, her Alicorn horn and wings turned on for dramatic effect “Me!” She said with an attempt at menace for a moment, a second, and then she dropped the whole act and giggled. “And once he has done that, ponies will be sure to welcome him with open hooves. Imagine how easy it’ll be to get a job then, eh?”

[StrongCopper]

Accidental Allegro

 

Allegro just... looked at Pipp as she kept talking. And talking... and saying things as if he was meant to instinctively understand what it was that was coming out of her mouth. He had absolutely no idea what streaming was, but when it came to bodies of water he was built for swimming so... it might be worth looking into further if nothing else.

 

Still somewhat dazed and battered by the sheer tide that was Pipp, Allegro was thankful when Sunny started  to talk again about a subject that he had much firmer grounding with. A grounding that made him shuffle his hooves as he glanced back at Pipp and said "I'm... honestly not sure if Pipp's idea to pretend to be a villain for me to be a  fake hero in fighting is such a good idea... but she's just so enthused by it that maybe she knows something I don't??