//------------------------------// // 41 - The Act of Creation // Story: Return to Equestria // by David Silver //------------------------------// David's fingers clacked at the keyboard. His way of writing was not one of other creatives he knew, at least most of them. There was one direction, and that was forward. He had to explain this, and then that. He was getting formatting down for each kind of thing as he went. This was a feat and this was a... Yes, exactly that. No time to second guess. No time to plan. Who planned anyway? Not him, that's who! He wrote backstory on the alicorns, half of it 'true', and half of it just made up and that was fine. Not like most ponies had any remote clue about them other than Sunny's appearance, and what did they really know about that? Not much, so far as he knew. More typing, more writing. He had a goal in mind, but it wasn't a word count, though he could remember working with that. Nobody was paying him by the word or expecting an amount of words, so he couldn't work with that. He had to get a product. It didn' t have to be perfect. It didn't need to be amazing! What it needed to be was finished, then he could give it to... Um... "You stopped." When did Joy get there? "You were typing up a storm a moment ago." "I just realized I need help after I finish writing this." David frowned with that heavy thought. "Artists to make some great pictures, and someone who can do layout design to bring it all together and make it look great as a package." He tapped his fingers at the table. "There's more to writing a book than just making the words." Joy inclined her head slowly. "That makes sense... No writer is going to, by themselves, make a game happen." There she was, in a more comfortable and familiar context. "Somepony has to program it, and somepony has to make all the sparkly graphics, and somepony else has to make the sounds and maybe somepony else for the music and..." She shook herself free of that line of thought. "It's a team project. So, you need a team?" "I think I do..." He started to type, resuming his work. "But I'll tackle that when I get to it. First step, words on the paper. Second, see if it looks right even naked and ugly. If Pipster's friends like it, then I know I have something that might get interest. If not, return to step 1!" And with that, he typed, whistling a little tune as he did so. It occurred to him and he got the computer putting out some music for him. "No more whistling?" Joy was still there, watching him work. "It's a trick." He tapped his head between bits of typing. "I have exactly one track of music up here, no more or less. If there's music playing, there's no room for music up here. Also means just putting on some music can defeat even the worst earworms. No room, worm is defeated." Joypad blinked at that. "Woah, that's like a superpower. Do all humans have it, or is that a David trick?" "David trick," he assured, working busily. "A little nervous." Not that is seemed to be stopping his words. "Still, it's kind of nice to be back in this. It'd been so long since I wrote anything. I'm making typos I should be ashamed of." Not that it slowed him down, just meant more time hitting backspace or clicking a spot to undo an error, then more typing. He was getting back into the flow of things. "We're closed." David blinked at that and looked around. They were alone in the store. He looked to the clock, a few minutes past closing time. He had lost track of everything in his manic rush to produce. He hit save and logged off. "I'll be back to work tomorrow." Joypad took a step towards the stairs. "It's pretty obvious you're having fun." "Writing is one of my big things." David shrugged as if confirming that the sky did tend to be blue. "So... if you want to do that, go ahead." Joy started up the stairs. "I'll call you if it gets hectic, but I managed the store before you got here." She hopped up onto the landing at the top. "I think I can handle it, and I like seeing you be in your happy place." David joined her upstairs and went to start on dinner for them both. "Helping you with the store is how--" "--you prove you're earning your keep," finished Joy, cutting him off. "Which you don't have to do. One, we're friends." "Thanks." "You're welcome." She smiled with the joy of that being clear. "Two, you're helping the store just being here. Three, you're going to make some money as soon as those lazy jerks give you something to do and you can share a few bits my way, hm? Four! Being your friend--" She gestured grandly between herself and David. "I like seeing you happy. Now, it's not like you want to just sit around doing nothing." "That sounds boring," agreed David. "And it'd annoy me, a lot." Joypad grabbed a bottle of salt, attached to her hoof as she shook some of it onto what David was making. "No, you're working, doing your thing. I can appreciate that. Be available, and I have nothing to complain about." David took the salt back from her and parked it where it had begun. "If you're sure..." "If it was a videogame," she leaned in closer. "I'd want to be the first to play it. I don't even know how 'imagining' games works, but it's not a videogame." Which sounded like it meant her interest was minimal. "So have fun with it!" "The real fun happens when I share it." He served them up both a plate, the two sitting at the dining room table. "When I get some feedback, hopefully positive, but even negative and constructive can be great." "Good attitude." She chomped some of her food, licking her lips. "Keep it. No failure can be a real failure if you learned something from it." "Exactly." The two nodded in agreement and he got back to eating, soon finishing the meal. "We playing today?" "We? You mean you watching me playing?" Still, she was going over to her usual spot. "I want to see you play more often." She quirked an ear. "Maybe that's why I like watching you type. You're playing. It's not a game I'd play, but you're playing." "Playing and working." David danced his fingers. "Depends a bit on attitude. And what you're doing, and why, I suppose, and who for?" "You're getting off track." Joypad swatted the console, getting it to power up and start loading the game. "So... I didn't forget a thing." "What thing is that?" He settled back to enjoy the movie-like experience of Joypad playing the game. "You proposed to me." She glanced sidelong at David. "Me and another mare, just to make it more scandalous. That's hard to forget." David colored, but it was easy to miss, being dark skinned to start. He had hoped she had just forgotten it. They hadn't talked much about it for a while... "So I was thinking about it. You know, there's a lot of kinds of relationships out there." David hiked a brow at that. "Well, we have a few right now. You're my boss, and my friend, and my caretaker in a way." "Wow." She shook her head slowly. "Put it like that, sounds kinda wrong, but sure, all of those things." She danced a hoof in the air, making the joystick bob with it as she played the game. "But I meant intimate things, and how ponies come together. What I mean is, to get to the point, is that I think I'm alright with moving to the next stage." David was quiet, perhaps too quiet. "Hate the idea?" She looked over to see him just sitting there, still. She paused the game and set the pad down. "I can wait." He meant to respond, but instead, a hiccup of an aborted sniff. "Thanks. Let's take this one step at a time." He extended a finger. "We can start with me being middle aged and you seem like a young adult." "Guilty as charged." She puffed up her mane with lifts of her hoof. "So? It's not like I'm a foal. Pretty sure you're not taking advantage of me, and I can make decisions. Young adult is still an adult, thanks, grandpa." "Hey..." He extended a second finger. "Then there's the whole 'we're not even the same species' thing." She wriggled her nose. "So? Ponies have family that aren't ponies all the time. Sure, usually they're more pets, but have you seen Hitch? That stud has a dragon for a son and a whole crew of animals for best buds! Call them pets and I bet they'd get angry." David considered that a moment. "I should ask a question. What is the next step?" "Great question." She clopped her hooves together in a firm meeting. "Close Friends. Best Friends?" She rubbed behind her head awkwardly. "Don't want to admit this... but I don't actually have a lot of other pony pals..." David frowned at her. "Get out. You're super likeable." "Stop that." She waved at his compliment. "Glad you think so... but I spend all my time around games, and not with ponies, unless to help them play games. So..." She clucked her tongue on her teeth. "So here I am, without a lot of friends, until this freaky new creature shows up, and he's kinda cool... and we're working out so far." "Alright..." He reached for the abandoned controller. "So Best Friends. I'd like one of those." "Me too," she half-sang. "What a coincidence." She hopped to the floor, just to fall to a knee. "David Silver." He tensed. "Will you be my best friend?" He smiled awkwardly at that. "Are there steps after that? You can't have a first if there isn't a second," he reasoned. She inclined her head. "Clever... There are, but that's a multiple choice kinda thing." She shrugged at that. "Let's get to that if we get to that. Right now, BFFs!" She offered a hoof towards him. He took it, cradling the hoof in his hand. Ponies around there had a heart for a frog, big and obvious, instead of the implied one that a horse would have. He trailed the heart gently with a finger. She went a vivid red, squeaking. "H-hey..." But she didn't yank her hoof away, and so he continued, gently exploring that hoof in his hands. "You have a hoof thing?" She wriggled faintly in his grip. "That's kind of strange." Still, she wasn't moving, letting him continue. "Never met somepony with a hoof thing before..." "Still haven't. Not a pony." He pet and rubbed over her fetlock with one hand, the one that helped hold her leg up, the other working at her hoof. "I have a lot less hooves than you, so give me a turn. Only fair." She stuck her tongue out at that. "Well, then I don't want to hear any complaining when I check out your hands." She hopped up onto the couch, but kept the hoof in reach of him. "You know, I can't play while you're doing that, so you're going to have to pick which we're doing." Not that it sounded like she minded either option. "I had hooves for a little while," mused David. "On some level, almost miss them. Don't need them up here though." He tickled with his fingers gently. "I like my fingers way too much." "I'm not minding them," she sighed out, relaxing under the low intensity hoof massage. "You could do this, you know, if the writing doesn't work out." "You're the second pony to bring that up today." He gently set her hoof back on the couch. "Proof neither of us is fibbing. Who was the other one?" She picked up the joypad and got back to the game, chatting with her Best Friend. Their relationship had changed.