The basement door swung open slowly with Aphirion crawling along the floor. For what seemed like hours, Twilight had scolded him about responsibility and discipline. His head ached from the amount of large words she had used.
“I’m a simple soldier not a scholar. I haven’t got a clue about half of the words she just forced into my head. Ugh, I could use a hard cider right now.”
He stretched his back and legs with a small groan. Shaking the stiffness out of his limbs, he walked into the kitchen. Small but cozy and quite functional, he opened several of the cabinets and noticed that Twilight was running dangerously low on food. Closing all of the cabinet doors, Aphirion strolled over to the refrigerator. Swinging it open revealed that Twilight was in serious need to go grocery shopping.
Being his ward, it was partially his duty to make sure that she was taken care of in all aspects of life. Catching a glimpse of her tail and the sound of her hooves ascending the stairs to her bedroom loft, he turned towards his saddle bags, kicking the door closed gently and searched for his bit purse. Feeling the small bag, he scooped it up and dumped the small golden coins out on the floor. A small pile of money formed and he began counting.
“I could have sworn I had more than this,” he said puzzled, “then again I’ve never been good at keeping track of my money. Looks like I have eighty three bits. That should be more than enough to resupply her shelves and maybe keep me from getting another lecture” Aphirion shuddered from the thought of being berated like he had been earlier that morning again. He peeked up the stairs but only heard the soft, rhythmic breathing coming from the sleeping mare.
Gathering the small coins back into the bag, he tied it around his waist and proceeded towards the door. Suddenly he remembered a crucial detail about him being there, Twilight. He wasn’t suppose to leave her alone. Sighing, Aphirion leaned towards the doors frame and dug his horn into the wood. He dragged it across the wood, leaving a shallow ring scratched into it. Taking a deep breath, he released the power in his heart and felt the warmth travel through his body as it always did. Congregating beneath his horn Aphirion released the power down his horn and into the wood, carving a deeper set of shapes and symbols.
Finished with his work, he took a few steps back to analyze his work. Noticing that one of the shapes wasnt perfectly squared, he placed his horn into the groove and dragged it straight down. Looking upon his work, he felt satisfied and left the tree.Closing the door softly, so he would awaken Twilight or her aggravating dragon, Aphirion jogged down the road towards the market.
The town was alive with noise. Ponies talking, laughing, arguing and crying. Fillies and colts played in the streets, laughing and cheering as they raced around the adults. Stallions and mares huddled around the market stalls, formed long and short lines from various stores, or sat in the outdoor restaurants. Everywhere was filled with noise and Aphirion felt electrified. Traveling for weeks by himself through barren lands and lush forests had left him with a longing for companionship.
Moving from pony to pony he greeted them all with gusto, being thrilled to just be able to talk to new ponies. Most responded back to him with kind words while others were a bit blunter with telling him off. None the less, Aphirion continued his self proclaimed task to gather his ward food. And then it dawned on him. He had no idea what Twilight liked to eat besides raisin oatmeal cookies. His head throbbed painfully from the hit he took early.
“I swear I’ll get that dragon back somehow, but until then I have to find some food for Twilight before she wakes up and sees I’m gone.” Spying a bakery not too far down the road, he shook his head free from the pain and started his way to the building.
“OH NO! LOOK OUT BELOW, IM COMING THROUGH!”
Looking up in slight confusion, Aphirion only got a glimpse of a grey pegasus with a yellow mane come crashing down hard into him. The wind knocked out of his lungs, he gasped for breath as the pegasus tried their best to roll off of him. Flailing legs and shifting bodies made the simple task more arduous then need. With a sudden knee striking between his hind legs, Aphirion cried in pain and pushed the pegasus off of him with a forceful blast of magic. Tears formed in his eyes as he felt the painful sensation twist around in his gut, his legs quivering from the blow, Aphirion managed to take several deep breathes before gaining control of himself and saw the pony that he had hurled into the sky twist around several times before recovering and gliding back down to the ground, landing inches from him.
“I’m so sorry I’m so sorry I’m so sorry I’m so sorry,” the pegasus, mare from the voice, said over and over, “where did I hit you, was it here” she said while pointing towards his groin, “ Here let me rub it better” she said while moving her hoof towards the spot
“NOOOOOO,” Aphirion said while rolling away from her approaching hoof, “ no no no no no no no, I’ll, it’ll be just fine.” He finished and managing to stand up, “Just be a lot more careful when you’re flying, you could have hit a youngling.”
The pegasus bowed her head in shame and began to cry. Sobbing, she fell to her knees and pounded the ground with her front hooves.
“Why can’t I do anything right?” She cried, “I’m always messing things up and hurting others.”
Aphirion breathed out deeply and nudged her head with his until she was looking into his face. Seeing her golden eyes looking in different direction, he immediately recognized the pegasus that crashed into him.
“Ditzy, come on, let’s get you out of here and find somewhere nicer.” He said as kindly as he could, “The street isn’t the place you want to be at right now.” Moving next to her he placed his neck under hers, tears falling onto him and helped lift her onto her hooves. Trembling, Ditzy managed to walk to the park which was empty besides a few fillies playing across the field. Sitting on a picnic table Ditzy turned her face away from Aphirion, crying like before. Aphirion sat next to the pegasus and brushed his hoof across her soft cheek. She looked up to him, her eyes turning red and puffy from the tears, and managed a flat smile. Flailing her arms out, Ditzy threw her arms around him and hugged the unicorn tightly, but not as tightly as the first time they met.
“I’m sorry I crashed into you Mister” she whimpered, “I swear I didn’t mean to do it, it was an accident”
“It’s okay Ditzy, It’s not the first time I’ve been crashed into and if you keep doing it, I hope it’s not the last time either.”
The grey pegasus giggled but fell back into her sadness.
“I can’t keep messing up like this; I’m going to lose my job, my house, and worse of all I’ll lose my Little Muffin.” She cried into his shoulder.
“Why would you lose her? You seem like a great mother?” Aphirion asked
“Some ponies think I’m not fit to take care of a filly, they say that I’m stupid, clumsy, retarded. But I’m not, I swear. It’s just my eyes. They make it hard to see some times but it doesn’t matter to them. A couple years ago I had a cold and accidentally wrecked the Town Hall. The medicine they gave me made me...well... kinda derpy and that name just stuck with me. The mayor had me investigated and they threatened to take Dinky away from me. I can’t rely on the Doctor because he comes and goes so I got the only job that’d hire me and now I’m about to lose that one too.” She cried even harder in Aphirion’s shoulder.
Stroking her mane slowly, Aphirion reached into his coin purse with his free hoof.
“Ditzy, you’re a great mother. I don’t even have to see that to know it’s true,” grabbing a hoof full of bits from the bag, “and you’re not going to lose your job. No one will ever take Dinky from you and all three of you are going to live a wonderful life.” He pressed the bits into her hoof “Now chin up, smile and let the tears stop flowing because there is nothing to cry about now.”
Ditzy ran her hoof through her mane before looking into his eyes. She could feel the bits in her other hoof but was too enthralled by the unicorn to stare at them. A smile spread across her face and she hugged him again.
“Oh mister,” she said while getting off the seat, “thank you so much for making me feel better.” She gave him a small kiss on the cheek, “I better get back to my mail route. I don’t want to lose my job after all.”
Crouching on her hind legs, Ditzy leapt high into the air with her wings flapping. Circling around the area, she glided over him.
“By the way, what.....”
“DITZY LOOK OUT!!!”
CRASH, CRACK, CRACK, POMF.
“Oops, my bad.” Ditzy groaned while hanging from a lower branch.
“You okay?” Aphirion asked.
“Yeah I’m fine,” she replied as she pulled herself onto the branch, “Let’s give that another try.”
Jumping off the branch, she spread her wings and flapped, gaining height with every thrust of her feathery wings. Flying higher, Ditzy suddenly tucked her wings into her side and dived towards the ground. Opening them up a dozen or so hooves above the ground, she reached out and grabbed a pair of sacks from the ground as she rose through the air. Throwing them onto her back, she vanished into a cloud. Aphirion shook his head as he left the park. Finding the bakery once again, he pushed open the door and almost immediately regretted it.