//------------------------------//
// 43 - Make Some Friends 
// Story: Return to Equestria 
// by David Silver 
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"Can't believe it." Joypad was walking along with David. "Your first payday! Woo!"

"Sorta." He wobbled a hand left and right. "An advance, to pay for stuff I need to get the job done. It's not my money."

Joypad raised a brow. "Wow."

"What?" He put a balled hand on a hip. "It isn't until I actually get paid."

Joypad waved a hoof over David. "Look at you, mister responsible. 'It's not my money!'" She snickered softly. "Somepony shoves that many bits my way, some of it might become mine pretty quickly, just saying..."

David swatted at her, but she dodged easily, laughing all the more. "I want to keep this job. It'll pay for my other project."

"Other... Oh! Your writing?" She came in closer at his side. "Clever. So being a star is just a stepping stone to getting a book published."

"Basically." David shrugged and ducked around an incoming pony. "I have no real buy in there. Being a face? Not really my thing. But! I can put that money towards what I do care about."

"Which is writing." She nodded, seeming to grasp it with a little mmhmm. "Alright! So, what are we buying with not your money?"

David drew his phone free and pulled up that list, showing it towards Joypad. "This."

"Look at that." She leaned in with a squint. "Alright, first stop." And so began a whirlwind tour of a few photography stores to get the supplies. Sure, some of them were initially hesitant. They sold expensive things, and there was Joypad, who wasn't rich, and David, the... whatever he was... Still, when he touched his phone to their terminal, payment happened, and all was good.

But they had the goods. Back at the store, Joypad led David upstairs, but to a room up there they hadn't gone into before. "This is yours." She threw open a door into an almost empty room, small, dusty smelling, and apparently David's. "Film here, sleep here, don't care. They told me it was storage, and now it's storing my human. Nifty, right?"

David wandered the small space, humming softly. "This'll work... It's perfect. Thank you." He reached for her head and she didn't stop him from gently petting her. "You're the best."

"Aw, you're welcome. I want to see what stupid commercials they make out of you, so get to it." She walked back towards the stairs. "Have fun!"

So it became a day of filming. He set up the backdrops, a green screen made to edit things later by ponies who knew how to do that, which wasn't him. He had a list of shots, so he did the things, many several times. He wasn't sure which was good or not, so a few each and let them pick out the best afterwards? That felt safer.

The hardest part? Remembering the lines when there were lines. Memory of that sort, not his specialty, but he did it over and over until a few good takes came out.

He sank into his chair with a relieved grunt. "Last.. one."

"You can save it for tomorrow." When did Joy get there, standing in the doorway? "You spent all day! You deserve a break, and dinner."

David checked his phone for the time, a sharp whistle following it. "Wow..."

"Yeah huh." Joypad circled around him to push him out of the room. "Tomorrow! That's still on time, right?"

"Should be..." He went right into the kitchen and got to cooking without prompting. "How'd the store go?"

"Everypony had a good time." She hopped up onto a chair, watching David prepare the food. "A solid day. We playing today?"

"Uh, sure." Things grew quiet as the meal making continued. "Oh! I forgot to say, gonna be joining a weekly game."

Joy's eyes glimmered. "What kinda game? Can I join?"

"Well..." He set out the plates of food. "They probably wouldn't say no, but it's an imagining game, not a video one." He tapped his head. "The pictures are up here."

She blinked softly at him. "There are no pictures up here." She tapped at her head. "Do you go to sleep and dream as part of the game?"

David sank into his seat at the dining table. "Imagination? Seeing things with your thoughts?"

"Nope..." Joy shook her head slowly. "Only when I'm asleep, like a normal pony. Do humans see them when they're awake? Woah!"

David was quiet as he ate, considering it a moment. "I will have to ask another pony."

"Ask them what?" She chomped eagerly at the fried bit. "Mmm."

"If they can dream while awake, or not." He considered Joy. "I can."

"Human super powers!" She declared with a properly awed tone. "What's that like? Do you slip from place to place like a dream? How do you actually think about anything?"

David chuckled softly, if a bit nervously. "It's not hard, just the way I was always wired. When I think about what you said, I can hear your voice, saying it."

"What?! No way." She stuck out her tongue at that. "You can make me say whatever, or just what you heard me say?"

David thought of Joypad, imagining her standing in a field of nothing, casually talking, "I can say whatever you decide I say, but you better not make me say something stupid."

"You better not make me say anything stupid," echoed the actual Joypad, making David jump. "What?"

"Nothing... But, really, alright. Just a different way of seeing the world." He sank his fork in the food. "Just different, not better or worse."

"Better for some things, worse for others," she sing-songed. "You--" She tapped at him with a heart-ended hoof. "--are a creative that likes writing fantastical things. Being able to dream whenever? Probably super helpful for that. I can only do that when I'm asleep. I'd have to keep a notebook next to me and try to write it down real fast if I wanted to be inspired by it. So, nope! Gonna stick in the real world. You enjoy fantasy land."

And that was that? "Alright. Food good?"

"As usual." She grabbed her plate and reached for David's, ferrying both away to the sink. "We can play after I finish this. When's your game?"

"You're alright with it then?" He watched her clean, not really room for two people, nor enough of a task.

"Why wouldn't I be? It's nice you're making a new friend or two, and getting out there." She snorted softly. "Maybe a little jealous, except it's not a video game. I can't dream while awake, remember?" She pointed off to her console. "I let that do it for me."

David patted the back of her shoulder. "You're welcome to join, if you want."

"Nah." She pushed away from the sink, emptied of dirty dishes. "Message me when it's at so I know. Game time!"

It was game time. David sank next to her on the couch, and that story continued.





"Ooo." The voice came through his phone. "Aaaa." The media manager was going through the videos, jumping from point to point. "It'll need some touch up... but that's why you used the background... Loving it.. Loving... it..." He slapped down his hoof. "Did you invoice already?"

"For the parts I got, yeah." David would have held up his phone, but that was what he was talking to. "Emailed."

"Fantastic. Not my problem, but the ponies who do the bits will handle that." Like that, brushed off his plate. "But you did good! It'll take a bit for us to take this unformed clay and make it media miracles! But, not your problem." A chime sounded, money arriving. "Payday. Send back the remainder of what I forwarded that wasn't used for the supplies."

Well, shoot. Good thing, he decided, he didn't use it for anything but that. Though he could have made the difference with his actual pay. Simpler. "You got it. Tell me how it goes."

"Trust me, you'll be at least... the fifth to know!" He reached for the screen, hoof getting huge a moment before the call ended.

Success! David had money in the bank. Actually... He went ahead and returned the remainder of that forwarded amount. No reason to make that complicated, or delay. There, all the money in his hands was actually his.

And he had to be careful with it. That money had to finish the book...

But first!

He found Joypad signing up a new pony for a gaming card. Waiting his turn, he approached her.

She could see his joy perhaps. "Huh, look who's all smiles today. What happened?"

David flipped his phone around so she could see the number. "Got paid."

Joypad clapped in applause. "Great! Hey, everypony. David just did his first human marketing. Expect advertising sometime... soonish?" David shrugged. "Soonish!"

The room erupted into cheers, clearly looking forward to seeing what commercial David would appear in.

David tucked the phone away. "But first, I want to even up."

"Even up?" Joy raised a brow. "With what?"

It had just gone away, and lo it returned, his phone. "I want to pay for the food and... room and board! You've been super awesome, no doubt, but we're both adults. We should try to cover our share when we can."

Joy raised a hoof. "No! I don't want money in this... We have a good thing."

"A great thing." He pressed the phone against her blocking hoof. "And I want to keep it that way, which means cutting off things to be regretting at the root. I want to pay my share. This house--" He waved a finger around the store. "We share it. I care about it working. I should care about it working."

Joy grunted. "But--"

And then the cheering. The store had caught wind of their conversation and were applauding and stomping their approval.

Joy went a bright red. "Hey! This isn't about you all!" She tried to shoo them off, with limited success.

A mare giggled softly. "I wish my roomie was so thoughtful. I have to chase them down to do their part."

A stallion nudged against David. "She's offering a free place, why not take it?"

"I couldn't." He gently brushed the stallion away.

"Back to your games!" Joy pointed sternly, and the crowd dispersed under her withering glare. "Now... Fine... You have your heart set on it... Pick... I dunno... Pick a bill. That'll be your bill. I'll put it in your name and you can pay it."

"And you won't see it." Avoiding him having to ever hand her a single bit. "Alright, if you prefer..." He considered the price of various things in the store. "What about the AC and Heating?"

She shook her head. "That's part of the power. I don't get separate bills for them."

Well... "Then the power?"

"That's a big--" He showed the number. "Alright... You don't even know how often you'll get that... If it becomes too much, just tell me. No bad feelings."

"No bad feelings." He fired a thumbs up, a funny human gesture she had learned the positive meaning of. "Nothing but honesty when it comes to this kind of thing."

They met, balled fist to hoof. A deal was struck. "I'll get it in your name and you'll get the letters about it. It'll be good practice to learn how to deal with that."

"I agree." There was no doubt there, perhaps even excitement.

She angled her head at him. "You're pretty alright with this."

"I like adulting." He tucked the phone away. "Let's be responsible adults, together."

"Responsible adults... You're ruining my punky reputation." She stuck out her tongue at him in defiance. "Alright, back to running a store." She rolled her eyes. "Like a responsible adult." Grumbling, she returned to behind the counter and had her smile on by the time the next customer came up, ready to refill their game card.