//------------------------------//
// 42 - A Day Off 
// Story: Lost Muse 
// by David Silver 
//------------------------------//

Day was on the lawn, watching the clouds drift by and enjoying the warm happiness of the garden around him. All the plants were quietly singing their joy. They soaked in the sun and grew and nothing was wrong with the world.

With a soft thud, a pegasus landed next to him. "Brother!" she cried. "I have terrible news."

He sat up, blinking at Derpy. "Hey, Muffins. What's got your feathers all out of alignment?"

She spread her wings wide. "Ponies are talking about your friend's girlfriend, Libel. They don't seem like nice things to say at all."

He tilted his head a little. "Talking about her is pretty normal, but bad things is... bad," he allowed, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "What kinda bad things?"

"They said she got some singer in trouble." She lifted her shoulders, turning up her forehooves in an expansive shrug. "I don't really get it."

"We'll fix it." He nodded placidly, rolling up onto his hooves. "That's what bros do."

"Yeah!" She pumped a hoof, looking excited. "I know where the mare is that's mad is."

"Great." He pointed towards the gate that led to the street. "Lead on. Let's go visit."

Derpy took off into the air, vanishing from sight almost instantly. Day calmly trotted to the gate and pushed it open. Derpy was on the other side, waiting for him. He smiled gently and they went off together, making their way through Canterlot to the opera house.

Soft music spilled from the ornate hall that contained the target mare. "She plays in there." Muffins pointed into the hall. "You haveta buy a ticket to get in though."

Day smiled placidly. "Don't worry about it, Bro. I'll be right back." He walked past her towards the hall. He didn't go towards the front, instead winding around to come in at the side. There he found a door about where he expected it and gave it a gentle rapping.

The door swung out suddenly. "Get lost, you..." The stallion that had shouted petered to a stop, peering at Day perplexedly. "You don't look like one of the regular hobos making a mess. You a new one?"

"Nah." Day shook his head softly. "I'm here to for the plants."

"Plants?" His eyes opened a little wider. "Oh! The plants! The display out front? C'mon." He waved a hoof inside and backed away from the door.

Day took the opening provided, walking in out of the alleyway. The door closed with a soft click behind him, keeping others that didn't belong from getting in. "Plants can be complicated to get right," he noted as he followed the other pony. "I'll need to look around to get it right, but let's start with the plants themselves."

"You one of those fang shooey sorts?" The other pony shrugged softly. "Never understood it, but whatever. If you can get them to stop drooping, you're doing it right." He reached into his chest and drew out a badge. "This'll get you around without fuss." He passed it back towards Day with a glowing horn.

Day dipped his head and was soon adorned with the new stage pass. "Thanks, Bro. Let's make some plants happy."

"Serious about your work? Always nice to see." The stage pony emerged from the narrow back hallways into a larger avenue heading towards the front lobby. "Thanks for not coming in through the front. Most new contractors rush in and get tangled up with the ticket booth, like they know anything about upkeeping anything."

"Not a problem." Day nodded softly, smiling gently. "Oh, is this them?" He hurried a little to approach a great garland display of flowers and stalks that occupied much of the front lobby. They were once dazzling, but much of the color had fled from the petals. "Harsh..." He could feel the misery from his plant kin. "Let's get to work."

"You can save it? Great. I thought they were going to send out new plants, to be honest. But if you can somehow salvage what we have, even better!" He gave a hooves up and trotted off towards other business. "Call me if you need something. Name's Back Stage. Everypony here knows me."

Day nodded at Back's retreating form as he reached for the wilted plants, gently stroking along the weak petals. "Not gone yet... Don't worry, I'm here," he whispered gently. He had other things to do, but ignoring plants in need? He couldn't do it. He whispered and cajoled. He followed along the display, murmuring encouragement and even nuzzling the plants, breathing bits of his own life and magic into the desperate plants.

The further he went, the more things began to shift. Starting from where he began, plants perked up, color slowly returning to them with each sweet word and gentle caress. When the growth reached the midpoint, it exploded forward, sweeping over the entire room in a sharp wave of color, making his eyes close against the momentary brilliance. "Nice..." The plants would live another day, and that pleased him.

Of course, there were other things to do, both involving and not involving the plants. He saw no reason he couldn't get it all handled. He walked calmly through the halls, his new pass bouncing off of his chest.

"Out of the way," barked an important looking mare, brushing past Day. "I have enough things going wrong, I don't need a backstage worker adding to it."

Day perked an ear at her. "Maybe I can help."

The mare frowned at Day. "This I sincerely doubt! My lead singer is being harassed by some old mare and is beside herself. We've had to stop all calls to her just to get a moment of peace! That infernal paper..."

Day nodded softly. "Sounds harsh. Who's the mare making all the phone calls?"

"Long Gaze," sighed out the important mare, huffing. "She's not shy about reminding anyone that picks up the phone that. Look, mister..." She peered at his badge, but no name was there. "Whoever you are. What are you doing?"

"I'm fixing the plants." He pointed back at the display he had just revived.

The mare leaned to the side, getting a peek of color. "Huh... not bad... Look, Tall Chief has a nice bouquet in her room, and she's not in it. Sneak in there and perk it up if you're so good at it. It'll help bring her around."

"You got it." He saluted sharply, though his hoof fell limply back to the ground. "Where is her room?"

The mare pointed the way. "Make it fast, before she returns. Now, if you'll excuse me..." The mare trotted away, muttering about other things that were wrong.

Day took his opportunity to slip over to the dressing room casually. Casual was a thing he was good at. He walked in as if nothing was out of the ordinary. "Woah." There was not a single bouquet. It was as if somepony, or perhaps a lot of ponies had sent flowers of many different colors and varieties. The room was littered with them. They were in all stages of decay from fairly fresh to barely-flower-like anymore.

He shook his head as he approached the closest one. "Better get to it..." It hurt his little placid heart, but he had to just throw away some of the flowers, beyond his help as they were. For the rest, he gently coaxed them back to life.

While he was tossing flowers, he saw a crumpled bit of paper in the waste bin. He reached in with his face and pulled it out, unwrapping it by smoothing it against a counter with a hoof. It was a phone number and labeled 'Trace Results'. It was addressed that day. "That's important..." He tucked the paper away, then finished working on the plants, filling the room with the colors and smells of vibrant life.

Tired and ready for a good nap, he slipped out just moments before the singer returned to her restored room.

He walked out the front door, predicting little issues with leaving, only entering. The ponies who worked there didn't challenge him. Some were even admiring the restored display. He wouldn't get paid for it, but he got stuff done, so he didn't see any reason to be that upset about it. "Bro."

Derpy perked her ears, smiling at his approach. "You're back! You look... really tired."

"Yeah, I am." He casually crashed next to her and leaned against his still fairly new sister. "I need to make a phone call. Where's the closest phone?"

Derpy stood up carefully and nuzzled under him, soon getting him onto her back. She began to amble along, with him laying across her top, facing backwards. "I'll take you to one," she promised cheerfully as she hurried about half a block away to a public booth.

She gently slid him down off her back into the booth. "There you go!" She closed the door and stood guard faithfully.

"How did I live without a sister?" he asked himself as he turned to the phone with a little smile. He really liked having one. He would have to tell mom the good news... He picked up the receiver and dropped a bit into the slot.

"Operator."

"Hey. Can I talk to the, uh... Canterlot... Canter, yeah, Canterlot Canter."

"Certainly, one moment." The phone went quiet.

Click. "Canterlot Canter! How can I direct your call?"

"Hey! Can I talk to Libel?"

"Libel? Oh! Are you a friend of Miss Word's?"

"Sure am." He nodded into the phone, not that it was seen. "Can I talk to her?"

"One moment..." Click.

Click. It was barely a moment. "Libelous Word's office, Bottom Line speaking, how may I assist you?"

"Bottom!" He smiled at the sound of his girlfriend's voice.

"Day! Look, you... really shouldn't be calling me at work. I can get in trouble for that!"

"It's not about that," he assured with a little smile. "I'm trying to help Libel. I have a phone number and a name, can you get more?"

"Huh? Oh, sure..." She dutifully took down the name and number. "What is this for?"

"I'm tracking the mare that's bothering that singer that's upset with Libel."

"You're joking. I've been hitting a wall all morning with that! I can't tell Libel you went and solved it on your own."

"Keep it a secret then. Consider it a gift."

"Here she is." There was a sound of paper rustling. "Long Gaze, here's an address." She gave it dutifully. "Lives in an old pony's home."

"Thanks. I'll make sure she doesn't know I beat her to the punch."

"Please. Thanks, Day. You're the best."

"I can't be."

"What? Of course you are."

"Nope. How can I be when you're busy being the best?"

"Day... thank you." There was a soft click.

Day hung up the phone and flopped back with a little happy smile. A knock stirred him. "Huh?"

"It's me," came Derpy's voice. "Other ponies want to make calls."

"Oh right." He emerged from the booth. "I have what we need, but we have to be sneaky."

"Sneaky?"

"Super sneaky."

"Super sneaky," she repeated, tapping her chin. "What do we have to do?"

He produced a paper with an address on it. "You have to get this info to Libel without making it obvious what it's for or how you got it. You're a mailmare, you hear things, right? Leave it at that."

Derpy accepted the letter, scanning over it. "Oh, hmmm, alright... Hmmm, I can do that. She's a friend of the family, so if this helps her, that's good."

"Yeah," he easily agreed with a little smile. "I'm trusting in you, Bro. Get this to her and everything will be happy."

Derpy bounced in place. "Sounds good! I'm on the case. Meanwhile, you go home. You look so tired!"

"Good idea." He turned towards Libel's house only to flop instead of walk.

Derpy sighed gently. "Brothers..." She would take him to her own room to rest, and she would deliver the message. Hopefully it would work out!