Today was a good day. It had also been a day of firsts. First I’d had a good meeting with Apple Polish, then I’d met Mrs. Peaches for the first time, then we’d gone with her to the hospital to see Melody. Melody was ecstatic to see us all, by the way. Now, after safely getting Mrs. Peaches home, I was in a new bar: The Spearhead Tavern.
It wasn’t any old bar, though. It was a royal guard bar. After my first day of volunteering, Strong had insisted I come with him to meet up with his friends at the bar.
We were all sitting together at a big round table. I didn’t know anypony but it didn’t seem to matter. They were all very chummy. It was also neat because a lot of them were in armor. The whole place was full of armored ponies. Fit, muscled, armored ponies.
“So, she says: Sunny Day, get my coat!” Strong said, using a voice to somewhat sound like Mrs. Peaches. “And Sunny gets it. Then off to the hospital. I swear that mare has more strength than anypony I know.”
A blue and green pegasus mare across the table grinned. “Well, that sounds sweet. I’m sure Melody was thrilled.”
“Oh, she was,” Strong replied before looking at me. “Right, Sunny? How is your cider, by the way?”
My cider was good but strong. It wasn’t something I normally drank, but I liked it well enough. It had me feeling warm and fuzzy. Spending time with Mrs. Peaches had done that, too. Plus seeing Melody. I was feeling great. A little excited, too, and not in the happy way. Too many fit and good-looking ponies around.
I cleared my throat. “Right! Melody was so surprised when Peaches stormed her room. Even more so when she started ordering the doctors about and explaining how this one was the best at one thing and such.”
“Oh, yeah! In my shock I almost forgot that,” Strong said, laughing.
Another mare, a pink earth pony with a red mane, grinned. “I’m not surprised. That sounds like her. So, are you coming back, Sunny?”
“You bet! When do we start?”
Strong laughed and winked. “Next week. Same time if you can work it out with your schedule.”
“Oh, I’ll work it out. My boss is great.”
“Good, good! Well, as fun as this is, it is time to go. Do you need somepony to walk you home, Sunny?” Strong asked.
I shook my head. “No, I’ll be fine. Thank you for letting me tag along.”
“Thank you for volunteering,” Strong replied before standing up. “See everypony soon.”
They all exchanged happy goodbyes before heading out. I was still drinking my cider so I moved to the bar to free up the table.
A large earth pony sat down next to me and ordered something. She had a long black mane tied up in a ponytail and must have been some sort of bodybuilder. There was a slight stallionish look to her. Her copper-colored coat contrasted with a cutie mark that looked like an explosion. Celestia knows I’d seen my fair share of explosions lately so I knew what that looked like!
Our eyes briefly met when she caught me looking and she said, “Hi there.”
“Hi!” I chimed in response.
“Would you like another cider?” the bartender asked me.
“Yes, please,” I replied before setting the bits down.
“Are you from here?” the mare asked, drawing my attention back her way.
“Oh, not originally, but I’ve lived here for years.”
“Ah, do you happen to know where the royal guard academy is? I’m up from Fillydelphia to take some mandatory training classes.”
Royal guard academy? That was on that big campus halfway between the palace and the Wonderbolts stadium. At least I thought it was. I was at least ninety-nine percent sure but I was also feeling the cider.
“Uh, maybe,” I said. “I’m not a guard, though, so I can give you a well-educated guess but I bet anypony else in here would know for certain.”
“Ah, probably so. I’ll ask around. Have a good evening.”
“Good luck… uh…”
“Street Justice,” she said.
“Good luck, Street!”
The bartender had just set down another cider. Cider was expensive or Dolly had really been giving me a good deal. Either way, this would have to be my last one even though I was making a lot better money. Better was still not good.
I finished my drink and stood up with a slight wobble. I wasn’t drunk but the cider was harder to judge since it was unfamiliar. I may have had a little too much but I’d be fine. I was really hoping Diddle or Dilly would be home.
On my way to the door I stumbled. Before I hit the ground, however, I was caught by two forehooves. “Easy there,” came a concerned, masculine voice.
The source was a pegasus stallion. A stallion with a light blue coat, a dashing dark blue mane, and enough muscles to make my hind legs go weak. “Oh,” I said, looking up into his big green eyes.
“Oh? Are you okay?” he asked.
“Oh yeah, I’m okay,” I replied, setting a forehoof on his cheek. “You’re hot.”
His cheeks flushed some. “And you’re drunk.”
“No, I’m not. Just tipsy.” I looped my hoof behind his neck and pulled myself up. He didn’t budge an inch with his muscled, tight physique.
“Let me get you a cab.”
I set my other hoof on his nose. “Or, or, and I’m just making a suggestion, you can take me home yourself.”
“Okay… sure. I guess I can do that. What’s your name?”
“Sunny Day.”
“Great, I’m Soarin. Where do you live?”
Where did I live? “Mmm, tonight? Your bed.”
He sputtered, “Pardon?”
I pressed my nose to his ear. “Your bed? You’re handsome, I’m cute, and I’m feeling really good about myself tonight. So how about it? Tonight, your bed?”
Soarin looked around in confusion but his wings were twitching just like Diddle’s did. “Are you sure you’re not drunk?”
“I’m sure I’m not drunk.”
“Well… I guess you can come home with me. We’ll see about the bed thing once I give you a sobriety test.”
That made me giggle. “What, are you a royal guard ,too?”
He shook his head. “Royal navy, but I know how to do the test. Come on, let’s go.”
“Yes, sir, officer sir!”
☼
It had taken some effort but I had eventually convinced Soarin that I was, in fact, not too drunk to make a rational decision. He was quite the gentlepony. Of course, once it was clear that I was good to go and I’d lured him into his own bed he wasn’t too gentle!
I’d never been with a stallion like him and he had certainly continued and contributed to my good feelings. Plus, if I can say so, I wasn’t exactly a slouch in my performance. Now we were lying together and cuddling.
He nuzzled my cheek and asked, “Do you always take stallions home that catch you when you fall?”
“No, just the super handsome and toned ones like you,” I teased.
His ear wiggled. “I see. So you’re a royal guard?”
“Me? No. What makes you think that?”
Soarin laughed. “You were in a royal guard bar hanging out with royal guards? It seemed like a fair assumption other than you being… uh… you know.”
My eyes narrowed. Was he going to call me loose? I mean, he was right, but still! To call me that to my face in bed? “I know what?”
“Hot.”
Or he could call me hot. Hot worked. I like hot! “Oh, well then, I accept. No, my friend is a royal guard and I work with her unit on this volunteer thing. It’s great. We help older ponies. Well… we’re going to. I’ve literally only gone once but I’m going to go a lot. It was great!”
“That sounds nice. I wish I had more free time to do that sort of thing,” he replied, nestling back into the pillows.
His bed and apartment were nicer than Melody’s. He also didn’t have a roommate. As far as I knew, anyway. It was a one bedroom after all. “Why are you busy?”
“Well, I’m an officer in the royal navy. That keeps me busy enough as it is but what really consumes all of my time is training. I’m hoping to be a Wonderbolt and I’ve been told there is a real chance of it.”
A Wonderbolt? That explained his physique. “Aren’t they just a bunch of performers?”
Soarin snorted. “Just a bunch of performers? Not at all! They’re the finest navy flyers in the entire kingdom. All of their routines require massive levels of precision and athleticism. Yes, they perform but they’re not just performers.”
“I didn’t mean any offense by it! It’s something I really don’t know much about. I just see the posters and stuff. I didn’t even know they were military,” I said before nuzzling up under his chin and stroking a hoof along his belly. It was true. I honestly thought they were show ponies.
His ear flicked. “Sorry, I just get touchy about it sometime. If it was easy, anypony could do it, but there are only four teams and of those four there is only one A team. If you make alpha, you can know you’re one of the best around.”
“That sounds like you’ll be busy all the time.”
He nodded. “Unfortunately… well, not really unfortunately. I’ve always dreamed of being a Wonderbolt. If it pays off that will be amazing. So… uh… I don’t really normally just take mares home. How does this work exactly? Do I buy you breakfast tomorrow? Do we see each other again?”
I giggled and swished my tail. I’d fallen in with a lot of different ponies lately. “Well, you’re certainly welcome to buy me breakfast. We can see each other again, too, if you like. I’d like to. You should know that I’m not currently the marrying or exclusive type, though.”
Soarin shrugged. “With my schedule, that suits me fine. It would be nice to have a mare to hang out with now and then. Call it casual?”
“Casual it is! Now, do you think you could go again? I’m not really sleepy and there are a lot of hours between now and breakfast.”
The stallion slipped out from under my cuddling and over me. Gently, he nuzzled my neck. “Oh, I think I can fill those hours without too much trouble.”
“It isn’t the hours I hope to have filled,” I replied with a sly little wink.
He turned bright red but didn’t hesitate to meet and exceed my expectations.
Yup, today had a been a good day!
☼
Melody was looking even better than usual. The bandages were still on but there were less of them now. Her upper forelegs had healed. They’d taken the least amount of punishment in her rescue.
She was currently nosing around puzzle pieces. Literally. I was helping with my magic where I could but not too terribly much. After all, this was a puzzle I’d bought specifically for her. Plus the doctors had continuously told her not to overuse her magic to compensate for her hooves. She was supposed to be resting and magic took energy.
“If you’d show me the box this would be easier, Sunny,” she said to me as she pushed edge pieces towards the sides of her board.
“If I showed you the box, you’d know what it was and that would ruin the surprise! You’ll just have to find out what it is when the puzzle is finished. Besides, this will make it last longer. You’ve done every single puzzle in the hospital’s entertainment check-out room. Now I have to buy them.”
The mare looked up at me and sighed. “Fine, fine. Still, why do I feel like this is going to end up being a joke? Potentially one at my expense?”
Oh, it was. I couldn’t wait for her to figure out what the puzzle was. It wasn’t adult, per se, but it featured firemares in socks and wet t-shirts playing with hoses. It would make her blush all over. “Because you know me well enough?”
Melody glared at me but then smiled. “You’re cute. It was sweet of you to bring Mrs. Peaches to see me, by the way. I really enjoyed that.”
“Now let’s be honest. Mrs. Peaches brought us. We just made sure she got here and back safely.”
“True. Are you going to see her again?”
“Every week! Strong already put me on the roster and I’ve worked it out with Dolly that Wednesday is going to be one of my days off. That way I won’t miss work and I can hang out as long as Mrs. Peaches likes.”
“Good! I’m glad you took to her. She’s a sweet mare. I’ve been missing visiting her. Perhaps we can go together sometime?”
That would be fun. “Yes, absolutely yes. You just need to work on healing up faster so we can!”
Melody winked. “I’m on that. The doctors say it won’t be too much longer. A few more weeks or so. I’m healing well.”
That was good news. I prefered my Melody ambulatory and doing her thing. “We’ll have to have a little celebration when you get out, then.”
“Sounds fun. You look pretty good, by the way. Not in the the physical way, either. Like… I don’t know, internal glow?”
I waved a hoof at her. “Aww, thank you. I’ve just been figuring things out. At first I was all over the place, but now I’m narrowing things down. My career is going okay, school is going to wrap up, and now I have this volunteer thing. That is a good life. Plus, I totally spent the night with this hot stallion!”
“That sounds like a good life for sure. I’m happy for yo—wait, what?”
With a wide grin I replied, “Hot stallion! Wonderbolt in training! He had a ton of stamina. Why do you think I walked in here funny?”
Melody’s face turned bright red before she burst out laughing. I liked it when she laughed. She looked pretty when she did because it was so genuine.
“You’re too much! Well, I can’t say I’d classify doing good works with fooling around with a hot stallion, but good for you! Are you going to see him again or is this one of your… what is it? Hook-ups?”
She was learning from the Cosmare magazines. That was probably not good. I shrugged. “Mostly a hook-up. He is super busy with his training but he did want to see me again. We’ll be special friends.”
“Fair enough. Well, we should all do lunch sometime so I can make sure I approve.”
My brow arched. “Approve? Of my special friend?”
Melody nodded. “You’re my good friend and as your good friend I have to make sure he isn’t sketchy. I’ll use the royal guard stare on him and make sure he checks out.”
I giggled at that and then nuzzled her cheek. “Deal, although you should be warned, he is a lieutenant like your commander pony.”
She shook her head. “No, if he is a potential Wonderbolt, then he is navy. That makes him a rank above my lieutenant.”
“What? They’re both lieutenants!”
“It doesn’t work that way. Our captains are their lieutenants.”
My eyes narrowed. “Are you messing with me because you know I don’t know anything about this?”
“You’ll just have to find out when the puzzle is finished!”
☼
On my way out of the hospital, I ran into Strong Wing. When he saw me, he galloped over. “Oh, hey, Sunny Day! This is a really fortunate coincidence. I could really use your help right now.”
Me, help him? “Sure, what’s up?”
“I’m in a bind. There was a magical accident at the zoo and hundreds of animals escaped. They’re running all over Canterlot Heights right now. Every spare royal guard has been called in to help get them back.”
“You want me to help catch animals?” I asked in surprise.
Strong Wing blinked. “What? No! Cloud Lance is visiting and while I was on duty he spent the day over at the foal care center. I can’t pick him up. Can you pick him up for me and take him back to my place? He’ll be fine there alone. He is old enough, but I gave him orders not to leave the center until I came for him and he’ll follow those.”
Pick up Cloud Lance? I’d only met him the one time. I could do that, though. “Will he leave with me?”
“Yes, just tell him cheese dip.”
“What?”
“It’s code. He’ll know. Listen, I have to go. I’m so glad I bumped into you. I need to go tell Melody that I won’t be able to stay but I at least wanted to check in on her. Do you know where the foal care center is by the royal guard campus?”
“No.”
“Great! See you later,” he said before galloping into the hospital.
“I said no!” He was gone. Of course, he was just going up to see Melody but I could figure this out. Foal care center by the royal guard campus. I could pick up Cloud Lance, get him home, and still get to work on time. Although I kind of wanted to see Canterlot Heights being overrun with animals… oh well, time to be Responsible Sunny!
Now, let’s see. What had I told that mare at the Spearhead Tavern? Halfway between the palace and the stadium, right? Oh, wait, no, I had been drunk and told her to ask around.
Taking my own advice, I got directions from the mare at the hospital’s front desk. It didn’t take too terribly long to get to the guard campus. It was literally on the same road as the hospital. Of course, most things were on that road because it was Mane Street.
Friendly Foal Care was huge. It was in the heart of Canterlot and was probably the main center for the guard, palace, and downtown businesses. It was shaped like a giant H with a playground in front and another in back.
The area in front was for the younger foals, the ones in early elementary school and younger it seemed. The one out back was clearly for the older colts and fillies. The term “foal care” clearly applied loosely there.
That was where I saw Cloud Lance running around with a cute little blue unicorn filly. She had an aqua and violet mane and tail, and big blue eyes. She was also substantially smaller than Cloud.
I waved in his direction and called for him. “Cloud Lance, I’m here to pick you up.”
He came to a sudden stop, looked at me in confusion, and then tumbled forwards when the unicorn filly crashed into his rump. My eyes went wide.
Cloud got up without complaint and then helped the filly. “Are you okay?” he asked her.
“Yup! I’m fine! I fall a lot. Is that your big sister?”
“No, she’s this mare that is friends with my brother’s roommate. I need to check this out. It is sketchy.”
The filly chimed, “She looks nice enough! It was fun playing with you. Hope to see you later!”
“Yup, you, too.” He then came over to me and asked, “Where is Strong Wing?”
“He is doing royal guard stuff. He told me to tell you cheese wiz.”
“What?”
“Cheese stick?”
“Uh…”
“Cheese dip!”
“Right. Okay, let’s go.”
We started to trot for his home and I asked, “Who was the filly?”
“Princess Sapphire of the Gem Homework,” Cloud replied with total sincerity.
“Okay… what is her real name?”
“I dunno! I don’t come here that often. Just when Strong has to work and I’m visiting.”
“Good point. Well, she was cute. You should see if she is single.”
Cloud Lance snorted. “What? Don’t be silly. Fillies have cooties.”
Cooties? Right, right. He may have been in that awkward phase between colt and stallion, but he was still definitely a colt. “Oh… well that is true. Come on, let’s get you home!”