*Get Scooter a new scooter
Alrighty then. You have not even begun to try and explain to the ponies that you'd like to find some way to earn money, but first things first. You and Sweetheart are out and about early as dark clouds are slowly building in the sky, with pegasi flitting all over the place, each adding their little speck of gloom as if in a really fancy Tetris game.
They already have enough gathered that a very slight drizzle of moisture reaches the town below, pleasantly tickling your face and neck. As for you two, you have gone to the market to pick up groceries and you're determined to buy something - anything - on your own for the very first time. That is why, before Sweetheart heads off to find carrots, tomatoes, seeds and other edibles, you point to yourself and then the apple stand managed proudly by Apple Buttocks and Jr. Sweetheart nods and pokes your knee with her snout with fondness before trotting away.
Seeing you approach from the distance(your height making you more visible than most), the farmer mare grins and waves her hoof. Her little red-maned filly beams as well and runs up to you, jumping onto her hind hooves like a really excited puppy. "Howdy, Apple B's!" You grab onto her left front hoof and tickle the underside of it with your fingers, causing her to giggle uncontrollably and try to pull it back in vain. "Nuh-uh, Red! Your hoof's mine now!" You shout and increase the speed of your fingers whilst also barely brushing them against the soft center of the hoof for maximum tickle power. "Vuduvuduvuduvuduvudu!" You babble until the filly finally shoves you onto the ground and reclaims her limb. With an evil grin she hops onto your tummy, knocking your breath out of you. "Oof!"
Without further ado, she plants her face onto your chest and blows a raspberry. Instinctively, your whole body cringes. "Hey!" You grab onto Junior's sides, but she swats your hands away with surprising strength(probably from farm work) and attacks you again and again until you stuff your hand into your left pocket to pull a handkerchief out for surrender. Only it wasn't there. I'm gonna haunt the shit out of that rabbit when I die. How were you going to signal your defeat now?!
Fortunately for you, the filly's mother catches onto your plight and as she wipes tears of laughter from her eyes, she bites onto the little one's tail and pulls her off. You dust yourself off and scramble back to your feet, giving the yellow mare a smile as she moves back to behind her stand. Junior still has the gall to run through between your legs though, nearly tripping you. She jumps onto a nearby crate, rubbing her left front hoof with her right bashfully and smirking. "Alright, you win today, but... ah'll be back." You say in your best Schwarzenegger before walking up to Apple Buttocks' counter and picking the three bits that Sweetheart lent you out of your pocket.
"Now, pay attention, double-oh... apple, cause we got business to take care of." The fact that nobody can understand the drivel coming out of your mouth may or may not be rotting your brain. "I want one of these." You point to a random box full of apples next to the mare. "I... want... one." You pick up the apple and put it in front of her. The farmer blinks and then pushes the apple forward with her snout, forcing you to catch it before it drops. "No! No, no." You put the apple back on the stand.
"I want to pay for it. This apple... how much?" You start slowly extending one finger after the other. "One, two, three, four, five...?" After you reach ten, you realise that she must not be understanding you, as the price seemed to be getting ridiculously high. "Okay, errr...?" You don't really like showing salespeople how much money you have, but you feel like you can trust the mare and it seemed to be the only option. So you drop the three bits onto the counter. "This apple..." you start extending fingers again. "Uno, dos, tres...?"
To your surprise, the mare visibly frowns and bites her lower lip as if she was mad at something... yet she still takes two of the bits, leaving the remaining bit and the apple for you. "Um... thanks?" You raise an eyebrow. She seems to be in a bad mood now, snorting out loud, so you back off, wave goodbye to the younger pony and bite into the fruit. It's sweet and your teeth sink into it effortlessly. "Wow." You mumble with your mouth full, letting the juices caress your taste buds. "Tha'ss a guud apple."
By the time you and Sweetheart are heading home, the gentle pitter-patter has become a full on shower and the two of you run through the streets, splashing through puddles and cringing at the cold raindrops.
When you reach home, you spit out the water running down your face and carefully remove your drenched cardigan, which now reminds you of a wet mop. "Note to self: order a legit coat." Oh wait, I have no money or job. "Yaaaaaay." You grumble sarcastically and hang the cardigan over the fireplace. Apparently the animals in Sweetheart's home are intelligent enough to get a fire going and you don't have to worry about fussing over matches. Sweetheart sets her saddlebags down into the kitchen and flops to the carpet in front of the fire to dry out. The bunny drags a pillow over from the couch to put under her head, at which she cooes and pulls him in for a hug.
Not wanting to interrupt them, you sit down onto your cot, replace your trousers and rest your back against the comfortably warm bricks of the oven. Before hanging the trousers to dry, you carefully extract your notebook from the pocket. Your worst fears are true: at least half of the book is wet and melted together, ruining your pictures. "Ah, damn it." Sighing, you place the book a few centimeters away from the cot so that it doesn't dampen it and leave it to the hot breath of the flames to suck the moisture out.
With your usual evening activity thrown out of the window, you reach into your burlap sack and pull out princess Tia's chess board. You lie down on the bed and set the board up in front of you on the floor. Now all you needed was somebody to play with. You look over at Sweetheart, but she took in the warmth of the fire so well that she's already gently snoring, and the bunny's asleep between her hooves. Your gaze travels up to the ceiling, where a blue hummingbird chirps quietly. "What about you, Tweety? You wanna play?" You say quietly. "Probably not."
You rest your chin on your arms and decide to rest your eyes a bit until an opponent makes him- or herself available. Uh-huh...
When you open your weary eyes again, you've somehow turned onto your back(wait, I fell asleep? When did I fall asleep? I was just thinking!) and you hear a faint whistling in your right ear. You sit up, turn to your side and realise that Sweetheart's moved over from the fireplace to the unused side of your large cot and draped a thin wool blanket from the couch over the two of you, with the bunny sleeping in the little hollow between her wings. What's she doing here?
Suddenly, the entire room lights up for half a second, followed by the loud rumbling of thunder outside. Even in her sleep, the fragile-looking pegasus adopts a pained expression and her hooves shoot out and grapple onto your arm, forcing you to lay down again at which point her face un-scrunches. "Mmmm..." Sweetheart hums in her sleep. You don't have the heart to wake her up in the middle of the storm, even if it does mean you'll both probably spend a restless night afterwards.
Yawning, you lower your head back onto the pillow and let the rapping of rain against the cottage roof drift you back to sleep.