//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Sour Sweetness // by RisuUmbra //------------------------------//     The sun had started to set over the small village of Ponyville and the party in Anon’s house had started to come to an end as many of the guests started their way back to their homes for a good night's rest… well not all of them. Anon relaxed on his couch next to a drowsy Rarity while Rainbow Dash rolled the dice and got two sixes again.     “Aww Yeah! 12 again!” The prismatic pegasus went to move her hat piece again around the board when spike reached out and stopped her by snatching her piece.     “Wait just one second… according to the rules if you roll doubles three times in a row then you go straight to the dungeon and don’t pass go!” Spike grinned at the shock mare and placed her piece on the dungeons space, Anon was happily shocked when Rarity pulled out a box with the words Mareopoly on it and promptly grabbed a few of his friends to play and much to his amusement and annoyance he was still terrible at the game and apparently so was Rarity as both of them were quickly bankrupted and were left to spectate Spike and Rainbow fight for the rest of the board.     “What! Come on that’s so unfair!” Rainbow crossed her forelegs and waited for Spike to roll next, what’s really unfair is how Rainbow has been cheating for the whole game by using her wings beats to move the dice to get a better roll. Anon noticed after she bankrupted him by buying the properties right in front of his poor shoe piece by rolling double twos twice and getting a bunch of villages built on them knocking him out in one fell swoop.     “Yes! Canterlot Castle please!” Spike handed Anon four fake 100 bit coin while Anon handed back the property card, at this point two were just trying to buy up the whole board in hopes of the other landing on their property. Now that it was Rainbow’s turn she held up a get-out-of-dungeon free card then went to roll again and unfortunately for her rolled a five which landed her on the first of the four purple spaces called ‘Hallow Shades’ which already had a full castle built on it which fortunately for Spike belonged to him… and that means.         “Yes! That’s game cheater!” Spike sat there laughing while Rainbow held her face in her hooves for a brief moment before joining him in laughter, the loud laughing seemed to rouse Rarity fully as she sat up straight and started to fix her mane with her magic while addressing the three of us with a tired smile.     “Well darlings, now that our game has finished I believe it’s about time to clean up and retire for the evening don’t you think” When Rarity said evening Anon glanced over to a wall clock that he had hanging next to his pretty sparse bookcase to see much to his astonishment that it was much later as it seemed as the clock read 10:13 pm which means he needed to get to sleep, without further prompting Anon stood from his couch and dusted himself off while addressing his friends.     “Alright Rares is right it’s about time to clean up and hit the sack, oh and Spike? Twi said it’s cool if you sleep over so you can stay if you want” Spike perked up at the information and stood along with Rainbow to help clean up, while Anon’s home wasn’t the largest in town it did have quite a bit of space in it so the clean up took a few minutes but in the end it was all put away and Anon’s living room returned to normal aside from the folded blankets and pillows for Spike. Anon and Spike had just said goodbye to both Rarity and Rainbow Dash for the night and had gone back inside to get ready for bed, Anon went straight to his bathroom and brought out some spare toiletries for Spike along with a special metal toothbrush he got from Twilight for when Spike slept over. Anon decided he would take a shower in the morning and said goodnight to the basically sleepwalking Spike he passed by on his way out of the bathroom and headed into his bedroom, forgoing the idea of changing his clothes Anon just flopped onto his bed after kicking off his shoes and fell asleep and had dreams of blue and yellow balloons bouncing about. A few hours later         Some ponies say the most important thing about sleep is resting or the feeling of warmth around them to Anon it was neither of those, his favorite part of sleep was the dreams he could have and he was in the middle of a particularly good one about him exploring the deep sea. Anon didn’t question how he could breath but didn’t matter as he was nonetheless rendered breathless at the amazing scenery around him, after swimming around Anon found what looked to be a giant white clam on a pedestal made of multi colored coral which seemed to glitter and shine from underwater light shining down from the luminescent moon high above the surface of the water. Anon was drawn towards the clam and as he drew near the clam slowly opened slowly with the inside giving off a soft pink glow that appealed to the eye or at least to Anon’s eye, after a few moments of unbearable suspense the clam finally opened revealing-     Anon jerked awake as the right rays of the sun splashed onto his face, after a few moments from recovering from the temporary blindness Anon turned to the curtains which he sworn were closed when he went to sleep last night. After taking a quick glance Anon found the perpetrator to this sacrilege. “Goood Morning Anon!” A bright eyed and scaly tailed Spike the Dragon greeted his friend happily while holding open the large curtains the best he could, the same could not be said for Anon as he glared balefully at the young dragon and silently contemplated the consequences of punting him out of the window for disturbing his slumber. With a mighty yawn Anon decided the risk was too high and finally got out of bed while giving a still smiling Spike a quick head rub which he seemed to enjoy and started his way to his bathroom with Spike in tow. “Dibs on shower first… “ Anon’s tired declaration was punctuated by a wide yawn. “Dibs- aww man!”  Spike smiled good naturedly at Anon and hurried ahead to get started on brushing his teeth as it took him a bit longer due to his strong fangs. Anon sluggishly entered the bathroom and started to brush his teeth while Spike scrubbed the edges of his fangs carefully as to not cut his brush, when they finished Anon shooed Spike out of the bathroom so he could shower in peace. After a good scrubbing with some borderline scalding water Anon felt refreshed and ready to take on the day after a good breakfast, Anon exited the bathroom and walked down the hall into his living room where he saw Spike folding up the covers he used until he saw Anon. “Oh Anon umm… is it okay if we have some… uh you know… with our breakfast?” Anon immediately caught on to what Spike was asking and smiled and nodded his head at the drake who did a small fist pump in excitement then jogged off to go take a shower, Anon entered his connecting kitchen and opened his fridge and pulled out a few ingredients and the object of Spike’s desires… Bacon… or more specifically wild manticore bacon which was both his and Spike’s favorite. Ever since Spike found out Anon was omnivorous he instead of acting wary like most ponies did at first he asked if he could try some once they were alone in his house which didn’t surprise Anon much as when Spike first laid eyes on the BLT he made for his lunch that day he almost started drooling all over the floor of Twilight’s kitchen, ever since that day Spike has eaten some kind of meat while at his house which had actually had a positive effect on him as his scales had more of a shine to them and even his height has changed by a few inches over time. “Mmmmmm” The smell of frying back seemed to attract Spike to the kitchen table and sat down still a bit damp from the shower but clean nonetheless, with a quick flick of his wrist Anon slid Spike’s plate of bacon and eggs in front of him which he immediately started to dig into. Anon sat down with his own plate and dug in as well filling the air around them with the sound of chewing and the clinking of silverware, it didn’t take long for Anon to finish his food with Spike not far behind. Leaning back Anon let out a sigh of contentment from his full stomach and didn’t even try to stop the burp trying to escape him body. “*Buurp* excuse me” Spike gave a small giggle at the burp before freezing and grabbing his stomach before puffing his cheeks out, Anon knew the motion well and went to duck under the table as stream of emerald fire spewed above him and barely missing his face. When the stream of fire ended and coalesced into a scroll which fell nicely onto the table between them, Anon slowly rose above the edge of the table with a deadpan look on his face that slowly morphed into a grin as he licked his fingers and put out a small flame on the edge of his hair. “Nice one… what’s it say?” Spike rubbed his head sheepishly with one claw while grabbing the binded scroll with the other before unfurling it and read for a moments. “It’s for you from Twilight… apparently Mayor Mare requested Twilight to get in touch with you for a meeting at the town hall about some kind of event… um also Twi wants me to pick up a package at the post office for her while on my way back… well I guess we know what we’re doing today hehe” Spike put down the scroll when he finished reading and watched as Anon put their dishes in the sink and clean up a bit before responding. “Cool … well  I better get ready so i’ll meet you at the door okay?” Anon walked back to his room and grabbed his shoes and his bit pouch then returned just as fast only stopping to tie his laces, at the door waiting patiently was Spike who didn’t bring anything with his this time so he was leaving empty clawed. “You gonna be okay walking home alone?” Anon showed mild concern for the reptile who only waved it off and responded. “I’ll be just fine it’s only a little package then a leisurely stroll home so don’t worry okay” Anon nodded to Spike and went to unlock his door and exit with Spike while grabbing the key off of the hanger next to the door, outside was a normal bright day in ponyville with ponies of different types and colors going about their business as usual. Due to the location of Anon’s home the two will need to split up to reach their destinations so Anon held out a fist to Spike which he reciprocated with his own then the two turned away from each other and started to walk down the road away from Anon’s home. Anon didn’t live very far from the town hall so it only took a few minutes of walking and saying good morning to some random acquaintances on the way like Bonbon and Lyra or Cranky on his way to the market with his wife, the outside of the town hall was nothing remarkable other than being pretty well maintained so nothing really stopped Anon from walking inside and being greeting with the sight of an empty waiting area with a receptionists looking down at something below the desk covered in papers and files. “Excuse me, I believe the Mayor is expecting me?” She didn’t even look up and pointed a hoof as a door the said ‘Mayor Mare’ written on the glass window, paying her no mine Anon continued past the receptionist and walked up to the door and knocked. Anon heard the sound of papers moving before a voiced from within. “Come in!” Anon enter the office and saw Mayor Mare waiting for him while sitting behind the desk with a small pleasant smile on her muzzle, Anon walked up to her desk and stopped beside a chair and only when she gestured to sit he did. Anon wanted to show the utmost respect for potential clients so he did whatever he could to not overstep his boundaries when it came to his job. “I would like to start immediately but we have one more pony coming to this meeting so it shouldn’t take long her to get here” Anon was confused at her words and was about to ask who else was coming when the sound of fast paced knocked came from the door before it opened with a quick fanfare leaving confetti floating in the air as Pinkie Pie bounced into the room with a large smile on her muzzle only to stop suddenly on the floor when she caught sight of Anon then the smile quickly fell flat and she glanced questioningly at the Mayor. “Ah yes Miss Pinkamena i’m happy you could make it so quickly, if you could please take a seat next to Mister Anon we could get this meeting underway” After hesitating for a moment Pinkie Pie slowly trotted to the chair next to Anon who was trying to keep himself calm in the presence of his crush with mild success, after taking her seat Mayor Mare organized some of her papers before speaking again. “You two might no know but the annual tax summit for the surrounding cities is coming up in the next few weeks and due to the summit being of the highest importance so we may regulate the income tax for businesses in out towns this is where you come in Anon because as of late you have been making a name for yourself as a very dependable event planner, but due to the popularity surrounding Miss Pie’s parties it has been decided that the summit shall be a bit more fun than it’s usual dry and tedious self. Of course you shall be compensated for your work as the usual pay for planning an event of this size and importance ends up being… over a thousand bits each depending on the outcome” The sound of pay over a thousand bits each distracted both Anon and Pinkie from their feelings as they started to fantasize about what they would use their thousand it for, they didn’t get far in thought as Mayor Mar continued to speak. “My only condition is the two of you must work together to complete this task”  That snapped both out of their reverie quickly as a myriad of very different emotions ran through the two then in a synchronized manner other stood up and said. “What!” Anon’s smile only grew as he thought of this as the opportunity of a lifetime to not only make a thousand bits but also try to get the target of his affections to reciprocate them… This was amazing! “What!” Pinkie’s lips actually curved down into a frown along with her curly hair going slightly straight from her less than positive emotions, if she agrees then she’ll have to work with the one whos trying and slightly succeeding in stealing her calling but also her friends and because she was a bit strapped for cash because of the last party she threw not have as big of a turn out she was strapped for cash so not having a way out of working with ugh…Anon… just made her opinion of him even worse… if that was possible. “So… Will you two accept my terms?”