//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: The Very Thought of You // Story: Random Task vs. Equestria // by GutiuSerenade //------------------------------// The music gently increased in volume when Task’s alarm went off. It wasn’t like older alarm clocks that snap you awake with a sudden sound that leaves you pissed off for the rest of the day. It starts off low and the volume increases however high the listener programs the alarm to stop. Task’s eyelids slowly opened as his music woke him from what was perhaps the most relaxing slumber he had in months. One question my mind can’t help but retain Will I ever get a chance to meet you again? Tonight you set me free, filled my life with infinite bliss Before I forget, come closer... “Gimme kiss,” said Summer Scorch with a scrunched kissy-face, which was the first image Task woke up to. As loud as Random Task screamed, you’d think Sweetie Belle saw a ghost. He shot backwards off the mattress, completely forgetting about the wall that he rammed his head into. He pushed a hoof forward to point at Scorch... and possibly keep him away. “What in Tartarus are you doing?!” he asked. From above, several objects fell due to Task’s wall impact. A doll hit the floor and a pair of toy hoofcuffs fell just right over Task’s outstretched hoof. His pupils shrank and a panicked expression flashed on his face when he saw them. Scorch chuckled as he got off the mattress. “What can I say?” he asked smugly while walking towards the kitchenette. “You were just so charming when you were talking in your sleep last night.” “Where do you even cuff thes- wait, talking in my sleep?” asked Task as his attention went from the hoofcuff mystery to Scorch. “Oh yeah. Really cute stuff,” Scorch said matter-of-factly into the refrigerator. “Please don’t go, it’s so quiet, you need-need me,” he said each statement blandly. “I can understanding needing to get your hooves on something but whatever it was you were really clawing for it. Bad dreams?” “Actually, not at all,” Task replied curiously. “I feel well rested... like I slept for a whole day.” Task reached over to turn off his alarm clock. As he did, he noticed he woke to the third track of DJ-Pon3’s new album. Despite the rude awakening that accompanied it, the song was captivating to him. Simply hearing it gave him a taste of the blissful feelings of last night’s dream. Task made a mental note to write an article on her new album later. Scorch came out of the refrigerator (which totally isn’t a metaphor) with a bottle of apple juice and tilted his head at him. “You sure about that Bro? Jolting awake in the middle of the night doesn’t really mesh with feeling well-rested too often,” he said with a bit of concern. “Well...” Task began, glancing aside in thought. He reconsidered the events of the dream he had. From what he could recall, it seemed to react and shape with the music. Even when it felt as though he was in control of things within the dream, there was still one thing that stuck out in his mind: pain. He remembered pain. “I had a weird dream with this... gorgeous mare, who was-” “Pinkie Piiiiiie?” Scorch asked teasingly. Task groaned. “Not. Pinkie Pie,” he said deadpanning. “I doubt this’ll make any sense but... I heard a song in my sleep, and the mare I saw...” He quickly pointed a hoof at Scorch. “NOT Pinkie Pie mind you, felt like the source of it. When she was near me, everything felt peaceful. When she went away, it hurt. No idea if it could mean something.” “Know what I think it means, Tas?” said Scorch as he hovered back towards the living room. “What? I’m open to speculation, man,” replied Task. Scorch approached Task and put a hoof on his hat. “I think it means somepony’s working his night job too hard,” he said as he proceeded to give him a noogie into his hat. Task tried backing out of Scorch’s noogie, but this only made the pegasus pursue him further. In his attempt to break away from his strong roommate, Task’s back hoof tripped over an end table leg, causing him to spiral down and faceplant on the mattress. He looked up at Scorch, whose smile turned into a look of skepticism. “Meh. Too easy,” he said as he hovered back towards the kitchen. Task got out of bed again and grabbed his saddlebags. Considering he would be trotting about town for awhile, he decided to pack his portable media player and ear blooms before he left. “I better get to work. Pinkie’s probably started everything without me,” he said as he made his way to the door. “Let me know how the talk goes, buddy,” Scorch said teasingly. Task sighed to himself and looked down as he left. He was apprehensive to bring up the topic to the party pony, but it seemed like the thing to do. Not the right thing, but not necessarily the wrong thing either. Just... the thing. “Alright I’ll... catch you up on it later. Same time same place?” “Yup. See you at the Factory for brewskis, broski.” Task left the apartment, the image of the blue-maned mare flashing in his memory. “She seemed so real...” ==== It was mid morning by the time Task reached Sugarcube Corner. He wasn’t running late, but there was no real rush either. This was Pinkie Pie after all, so it’s not like deliveries wouldn’t get to their destinations on time. The bakery, however, was far too quiet. “Uhh... hello?” "Gooood morning Random Task!” Pinkie Pie screamed from above. The colt was startled if not surprised. Such could be expected from Pinkie Pie. He turned around and looked up, but there was no sign of the party pony. Before he could turn back around, he was pounced by a blur of pink. Should have seen that one coming. “Hiya bestest best coltfr-er... bestest best colt...” A pause. Pinkie’s face shifted to one of concentration. There was a whirring sound, followed by a buzz in her head which prompted her to continue. “-Friend! Since you’re a colt who’s also my friend, and also one of my best friends who also happens to be a colt, but not in a dating sense-” “P-Pinkie,” Task muttered through her rambling. “Yes, Tas?” she asked batting her eyelashes. Pinkie Pie Job: Baker Hobbies: PARTIES Rating: 10/10 Special: Party cannon, Party busters, Soiree blades “You wouldn’t mind getting off, would you?” “Yes. I mean, no. I mean, okay!” Pinkie hesitated a moment before she leapt up on all fours and backed up so her co-worker could stand. “So! You ready to make some deliveries? There’s lots of hungry ponies out there this morning who ordered breakfast. I’m so happy we have a fast pony like you to help with our new service!” Task laughed. “Don’t flatter me, Pinkie. If you weren’t here doing most of the baking, everything would get where it needed to go even faster, I’m sure!” Pinkie’s smile deepened and her cheeks seemed to take on a more rosy shade. “Well, I may not be Rainbow Dash fast, but you know your way around Ponyville well enough to be the best pony for the job! So here’s today’s orders to start off. We have a half dozen donuts and a medium coffee going to the library,” Pinkie said as she Task the sweets. “A box of cookies for the spa, and a dozen donuts to the radio station!” “Sounds good, I can handle that,” replied Task taking the food. Pinkie looked around. “Hey! Where’d everything go? You didn’t eat it all did you?” “Nah, that’d be too easy,” replied Task. “I just put it in my Inventory.” Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “Your what?” “My Inventory page. Keeps it easier to organize all my quest items.” Pinkie stared blankly. Task raised a brow of his own. The pink pony blinked. “Okay!” she said as if the information suddenly making sense to her. Granted, it still probably wouldn’t make sense to anypony else. Pinkie glanced down towards the floor. “So...” she began as she shuffled her hooves together. “I’ll see you when you get back?” she added with a smile. “Y-yeah, sure thing,” said Task as he turned around. He began walking towards the door when his thoughts stopped him. Maybe it was time to stop beating around the bush, swallow his pride and finally confront Pinkie. Task wasn’t sure he could take it anymore. “Hey uh... Pinkie?” The party pony perked up. “Yes, Tas?” Her eyes glimmered. “You have something in your mane.” Task pointed a hoof around the top of his head to mirror where the item in question was. “Huh?” She felt around her mane until she found what it was. “Oh! It’s Rarity’s scarf!” she exclaimed, pulling the long fabric out of her hair. Green and red layers came out of her head like a magician's tied-napkin trick. “Rarity made us all scarves for Winter and she gave me mine but I had my hooves full when she gave it to me because I was pushing my Party Cannon to a surprise party and if I put it on I might’ve tripped over it while wheeling the Party Cannon around so when I got the party I forgot that I kept it in my mane and it’s funny because the whole time I was thinking ‘why is my head so warm?’ and then you pointed out-” “Okay, okay, Pinkie! I think I get it,” said Task as he added a chuckle to his amusement. Pinkie’s cheeks went rosy again. “Hehe, sorry.” She threw her lavish scarf around the back of her head. Even after it wrapped around her neck, both ends were still long enough to brush against the ground. Task put a hoof to his chin. Was there something else he was forgetting? “Are you ever going to ask her out?” “Darling, at least give her a chance.” “C’mon bro, I think you guys would be cute together.” “Tas, c’mon, Pinkie really likes you.” “If you don’t ask her out, I’ll stick my tongue in your ear while you sleep.” “Oh, right. That.” Task couldn’t lie to himself. He didn’t have his heart fully in the idea of dating Pinkie, but she was nice. And they had a lot in common. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try asking her and see where it goes? “Hey Pinkie, by the way...” Pinkie looked up curiously. He inhaled through his nostrils to buff himself up. “Would you wanna... I dunno...” Task turned his head every which way as if to shape what he was trying to say. “...something...whatever... sometime?” Pinkie’s eyes lit up like sparklers as she lunged forward to grasp Task in a choking hug. “I THOUGHT YOU’D NEVER ASK!! I’D LOVE TO YOU-DUNNO-SOMETHING-WHATEVER SOMETIME!” Smooth. Speech Level Up! “Pinkie... can’t... breathe....” Task’s Air Supply [/////----------------------] Pinkie wasn’t all out of love, but Task’s shortness of breath would cut her Super-Pinkie hug short. She released him. “Oh sorry Tas, I’m just so excited! Do you... think we can hang out after we’re done with deliveries?” she asked. Task shrugged. “Sure, why not? I’ll swing by after I’m done. See you then.” “Okay! Bye Tas! I’m excited, are you excited, because we-” And with that, he left Sugarcube Corner and left Pinkie to her ramblings. Even if his heart wasn’t fully in the idea of...whatever...with Pinkie, who knows... maybe it could be fun. Nothing bad could come of it, right? Right? ***** The front door to the library appeared to open by itself, until Task heard a voice below him. “Oh sweet, breakfast is here!” Spike Job: Library Executive Assistant Hobbies: Cooking, Cleaning, not having time for any real hobbies Rating: 4/10 Hunger rating: 7/10 “Oh, hi Spike. Order for you and Twilight, I’m guessing?” “Well... I kind of messed up this new recipe this morning. Twilight was in a rush and told me not to worry about it, but I still felt bad.” “Lucky for you that we have this delivery service now, right?” Task replied with a smile. “Sure is. Come on in! I’ll go grab your bits,” said Spike as he hustled over to a cabinet. “You can just set the stuff on the table if you want. “Can do,” said Task as he took the food items out of his inventory. “Just curious, where did Twilight trot off to?” “Oh yeah, she went to Bookmark’s Book Fort to place a few orders. Oh, and she needed some CDs, though I’m not sure what for.” Task’s head perked up. “Audio CDs? Like music? Since when did he carry those?” “Uh... pretty recently, I guess. He didn’t tell you?” Task thought a moment. ~~///000oooo000\\\~~ “Yo Tas, wanna come by the Book Fort later? I have some new stuff there that you might liiiike~” said Bookmark teasingly. “Uh-huh.” said Task, who was currently concentrating on a game with Summer Scorch and Red Glayr. “We’ve got books on tape now, and I started carrying CDs, I figured that’d help with your writing-” “Yeah, sure.” Scorch chuckled. “Hey Tas. I’m going to put my tongue in your ear when you fall asleep tonight.” “‘Kay.” “Well, okay then!” ~~///000oooo000\\\~~ “No, I guess not. I’ll have to check that out later! Maybe he has some new music in stock that I can get my hooves on.” “Sounds like a plan,” said Spike as he walked up to him with a pouch. “Here’s your payment, by the way. Thanks again!” +20 bits 500 points! “Where you headed next, Tas?” “The spa, of course, to make a delivery. Then the radio station.” “Oh. Great. Let me guess.” The dragon cupped his claws together faking a damsel in distress and somehow made his eyes sparkle and deadpan at the same time. “Sarah-nade, right?” he said in a falsetto tone. Task sighed and turned around before leaving. “Look Spike, I know you’re bitter because he ‘snatched Rarity up from nowhere’ to you, but that doesn’t mean he’s a bad colt.” Spike rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t mean I can’t be upset about the whole thing. I mean if he’s such a nice guy, they wouldn’t be so on and off, right?” “That’s just their thing. He’s one of my closest friends Spike, so could you at least try to be a little more respectful towards him?” asked Task. Spike was silent for a moment, then sighed. “I guess I can try, but it doesn’t mean I’m not jealous.” Speech Leveled Up! Task tipped his hat in gratitude. “Thanks, Spike. Just remember: Envy is never a good thing to have.” he said as he trotted out of the library. “Guess not,” Spike said to himself after Task left. He shrugged, and decided it was time to dig in for some breakfast. ***** As loud and rambunctious radio stations tended to sound, Task wasn’t expecting the front office to be so quiet. After entering through both sets of doors, Task took in the office which he expected to be much more lively. Dull blue carpeting with black streaks and laced with gold diamond shapes and squares with a hodgepodge of dotting colors filling those shapes, covered the floors. The champagne walls had pictures and photographs of Equestrian landmarks, one of which seemed like an overhead picture of Ponyville. It certainly looked like an older picture. Judging by the photograph quality it must have been taken quite a few decades ago, possibly not too long after the town’s founding. Each side of the room had a red-orange sofa with a glass table in front of it. A waiting room of sorts. The only sound Task could make out was the clickity-clacking of pony hooves typing on a laptop. Not even remotely curious how that was possible, Task trotted past the furniture towards the desk balancing the box of donuts on his back. The front desk had a stylish marble green top with various pamphlets advertising nearby locales and businesses to the right. On the left side of the desk was a bell in front of a sign that read “Please Ring For Assistance”. Behind that were window stickers of the various radio station logos in the building. The typing sounds stopped. A unicorn mare with a vanilla coat looked up over the rims of her thick, black glasses. Her cranberry mane was in in a bun, and she gave a quick, frustrated exhalation - what would have otherwise been a sigh - through her nose. Her yellow eyes just screamed “Great, now I have to do my job,” as they looked at him. “Can I help you?” she asked flatly. She obviously had different priorities. “Yeah, donut delivery for...” he began, reaching for the box on his back and placing it on the front desk. He skimmed the receipt for the name. “Pft... for DJ Alda Bass.” The mare’s mood seem to elevate slightly, now knowing she didn’t really have any daunting tasks to do for him. “Oh sure, just a moment.” she said, sounding a bit bored. The mare reached a hoof over to an intercom and pressed a four-digit code on a side panel. There was a ring, followed by a clicking noise. “Yes?” came a stallion’s voice from the speaker. “Your breakfast is here,” the mare said in a suddenly happy and enthusiastic voice. “Awe-some,” replied the voice in a crescendoing fashion. “Be right up!” Another clicking sound and the feed was cut. “He’ll be just a moment.” “Thanks.” replied Task, who started looking at the wall behind the secretary. The letters “PRP” bulged out of the wall with the “R” in the shape of a microphone, the right leg of the letter was made to look like a cord. Below that, the full logo “Ponyville Radio Plex” spelled out the acronym. To the left of the ingrained wall logo was a poster with four serious looking ponies posing for the image, one in the middle looking directly at the observer with smug confidence, the other three simply showing off-glances from their own positions in the picture. One of the station’s frequency numbers “102.7” were in white while with a red letter “K” behind the numbers, indicating the station ID as “K-102.7”. The station ID was in front of a black oval, displayed for the station’s logo on the poster’s bottom. The top of the poster had “SPARKZ” in large 3-D letters, lightning crackling through the cobalt letters. Below the name in smaller font the word “and” was sandwiched above “The Forcez of Nature”. Task looked back at the secretary. “Sparkz and the Forcez of Nature? I heard they’re playing here soon.” “Mhm,” replied the secretary, indicating she knew all too much about it. “We have a few tickets left here, but none for sale. “Do you remember when it is?” Task asked. “Next week, Friend!” came the same stallion’s voice from the intercom, as hoofsteps approached from down the hall. Task looked up to see Serenade trotting from the hallway to the desk “Yessss, oh baby those smell delicious!” “Giving up on watching your figure, Serenade?” asked the mare. “Hey now, we can’t all look as good as you, Seevee,” joked Serenade. “Oh, and what would your marefriend say to that?” she responded. “Ah-heh." He really had no comeback to that one. "Tas, I assume you’ve gotten acquainted with Cherry Vanilla here. She’s a sassy one.” “Well, that explained the coat color.” Cherry Vanilla Job: Secretary Hobby: Professional Hipster Rating: HIPSTER! Glasses Prescription: Totally fake Task nodded. “We were just talking about the concert you’re selling tickets for.” “Were selling tickets for,” interjected Cherry. “Down Girl,” Serenade said with a light chuckle. She merely smirked and gave a snide glance above her fake frames. “Yeah, sorry Brotha, our rock station sold those tickets hot. Only ones you can get now are won over call-in contests.” Unable to sustain his hunger any longer, he levitated a white frosted float out of the box and took a bite. “Funny though, I didn’t know you were a Forcez of Nature fan,” he said out the side of his mouth since the rest of it filled with donut. “Oh, definitely! Although, I’ll admit I’m more of a fan of their older stuff. Their newer albums have gotten pretty anti-Solar and political lately. Not really my thing. And if you ask me, it never seems like something they completely understand either,” Task said, not realizing he was set to ramble. “Hahah, woah dude! Save it for the typewriter, eh?” Serenade said swallowing his donut. “I like reading your stuff in the paper, don’t go spoiling it now!” he added with a laugh. He levitated the box in his magic and began making his way back down the hall. “Well, I’m sure you have more jobs on hand, and I gotta get back to the studio, but I’ll catch you later Brotha! Thanks again for breakfast!” he called as he trotted back down the hall. “No problem! We’ll be at the Cider Factory tonight!” “I’ll be therreee!” he called back in a falsetto tone from down the hall. Task turned to leave and put his ear blooms back into place for his next trot-about-town. “You know, since we’re talking bands, Sparkz and them are okay, but have you ever heard of Clash and the Boys?” asked Cherry in a snooty hipster tone. Task shrugged as he paid more attention to his media player. “Never heard of ‘em.” ===== Another song was ending on K-KOLT’s Morning Grind playlist as Task began making way to his next stop. Several electro bleeps played followed by a spinning disc sound effect, followed by a catchy K-KOLT radio jingle. “Aaaand GOOD MORNING PONYVILLE!” came the sound of a mare’s enthusiastic voice. Any regular listener could identify it as DJ-Pon3. “I know I sounded only partially alive by my standards a few minutes ago, but let me tell ya my little ponies, I have seen the light! That’s right, we were visited by a savior this morning who brought us donuts! Sweet glazed donuts, fresh from Sugarcube Corner! This hour of music is brought to you by Sugarcube Corner, the freshest delicacies, desserts and pastries to get your morning or your latest party started! If you waited til later, call Pinkie to cater! Schedule your next shindig with Sugarcube Corner today!” “Hot dayum these donuts hit the spot! I was starving! This next song goes out my little hero who brought me breakfast, right here on K-KOLT 91.3!” The voice exclaimed into the transitioning song. Last night, my heart could not stop beating Could it be-cause I saw your face while dreaming? It was track three from his new CD. Task’s face went bright red.