Finding Her Place

by 97xxfastbike

Consolation

Golden Sweet shivered despite the heavy patchwork quilt that covered her as she laid on the thick area rug in Abacus’ apartment. Her brow knotting as she was contemplating the card game between her and the steelblue unicorn stallion until she had finally decided on a play. With that thought, she used her magic to lay four cards down from the seven she had suspended in front of her. “Plus three mana, and I use my Cerberus creature to deal three life damage.” She then willed one more card to drop down to the discard pile and five cards floated up from her reserve stack to join her remaining two. “Abacus, tell me again why you aren’t turning up the heat?” She knew the answer, but she had designs on what game she wanted to play after this card game was over.

Abacus mentally lowered his own cards and considered his fillyfriend’s play. “Because, the current cold weather is the result of a northern jet stream the Weather Patrol couldn’t redirect. In a few days they’ll have it warmed back up to compensate for this cold snap, but I’ll have a nice cool apartment.” He hoped he didn’t sound miserly, but his apartment’s rent was more than he desired. So he had to make some sacrifices in comfort at times, but this location was perfect. He was close to his university, to his job, and to the lovely mare with the pale coat and fiery mane who laid across from him.

“If you’re cold, you can climb under my quilt.” He said with a suggestive lift of his eyebrows.

“I am under your quilt.” She quipped as she brushed her gold and orange mane away from her eyes with a hoof.

“No, you’re…” He stopped himself, realizing too late the absolute truthfulness of her riposte. “Touché. Point: Golden Sweet.” He said imitating an announcer at a fencing match. Not yet willing to drop his proposal, he tried another tack. After all, the card game he knew, was over, and he had ideas of how he wanted to spend the next hour. “Okay, then, since you are cold, how about I join you under ‘my’ quilt?”

“No. That’s not a good idea.” She sighed like she meant what she had said, but it was nothing more than a parry. This is the game she wanted to play.

“Why?” Abacus couldn’t help but sound a little frustrated.

Goldie’s eyes twinkled mischievously. “Because you’d try to get a look at what I have.”

“I doubt very much that I’ll be interested in looking at your cards if I were beside you in that quilt.” Abacus’ ambitions were as plain as his naiveté.

Goldie rolled her deep blue eyes, amazed that he missed her double entendre. “Okay, I can’t let you because, I’d be tempted to look at what you have.” She smiled hawkishly, like competitors do when they know they have already defeated their adversary.

“And, what if I don’t care if you see my cards?”

Goldie struggled to keep a straight face. Is he seriously still thinking I’m talking about this card game? Then again, her cynical thought was fought by the part of her that really appreciated his innocence. Hopefully, he’ll start being a bit more forward. She liked being pursued. So far, he had been too… Timid? No that wasn’t right. Reserved. Yes, that fit. He held himself back very well. Frustratingly well.

“It doesn’t matter if you care or not.” She said, like the answer would be plain to anypony.

“Why?”

“Because, I’m supposed to avoid temptation.” She smiled and sipped at her mug of hot coco from between her fetlocks. Abacus stared at her as though he was prepared to reply, but finding himself suddenly without ammunition. He closed his mouth. Goldie set down her mug. Touché! Match: Golden Sweet!

“I’m not going to win this game, am I?” Abacus said, finally conceding defeat.

“Nope.” Goldie shook her head and drew the word out three times its length.

“Then I’m just going to have to win this one!” Five cards magically separated and floated down, one at a time. “There, that brings your poison counter up to ten.” Abacus had a foal-like excitement in the way he announced her defeat. Goldie frowned, but inwardly exulted. Perhaps this evening will get exciting before she had to leave. With a sigh she released the magic that held her cards and let them drop on the rug.

“Hey, don’t give me that look,” Abacus said defensively and held up his hooves now in a mock surrender. “I tried to give you a way out.”

“Maybe I prefer defeat in a card game to ‘your way out’.” Goldie pretended to pout.

“Maybe,” Abacus started pulling himself across the rug, closing the gap between them. “…if you tried ‘my way’ out, you’d find it isn’t so bad.” She was looking at him with her ‘sleepy eyes’ as he inched closer. Their horns tapped. They were close enough now. He leaned his head to the right and…There was a knock on his apartment door.

“Yes!” Goldie jumped to her hooves and shed the quilt covering her. “The pizza’s here!” Her choosing the pizzapony over a kiss may just help Abacus make his moves a bit more quickly, she reasoned. Truthfully, she was just enjoying the flirting.

“Ugh,” Abacus dropped his muzzle to the rug, lamenting the perfectly awful timing of the delivery. “The bits for it are by the door.”

“I know!” Goldie answered, already at the door with her magical aura glowing as it unlocked the latch and unfastened the security chain. “Just a minute!” She said loud enough to be heard by the pony outside the door. She threw open the door and drew a breath in surprise. “Oh! Ditzy, what are you doing here?”

Astonished at the unexpected response, Abacus raised to his haunch to see over the couch. It was exactly who she had said, but the blonde maned grey mare was surprisingly overburdened and looked unmistakably forlorn.

Ditzy heart sank when she heard Golden answer her knock. Even more so when she heard her mention pizza. There was no doubt in her mind that her presence would be unwanted. However, politeness would dictate they don’t show their displeasure at her unexpected appearance. She had better find a way to leave before she lost her best friend. “Uhh, hey, Golden Sweet, I was just stopping to um… say goodbye.” Ditzy lacked the energy to fake enthusiasm. Her voice was as lackluster as her appearance.

“What!?” Abacus and Goldie said in unison.

“I’m going back to… um…Fillydelphia… I guess.” Ditzy wasn’t aware that as she spoke her eyes dropped a little with every word.

“No!” Abacus stood and walked to the door. “Ditzy, Why?”

“I umm… just don’t think I am doing too good here.” Ditzy’s evasion to the question was as obvious as it was vague. “I think I should go back to Fillydelphia. So, I came here to tell you that, I’m leaving.” Her head was now so low, she could have been having a conversation with a doormat, if there had been one.

Abacus and Goldie glanced at one another. They both didn’t like this sudden turn of events and were concerned about the clearly disheartened state of their friend. Goldie lowered her head and tried to make eye contact. “I don’t understand what you mean you when you say: 'you don’t think you’re doing well here'? Can you come inside and explain it better to us?”

She didn’t even try to pick her eyes up from the floor. “I…I don’t have time to explain, I need to leave.” Ditzy turned and started walking away. She had hoped Golden wouldn’t be here. Not because she didn’t like her, or didn’t trust her, but because she always felt like Golden was her friend because of Abacus. That feeling of her presence being merely tolerated by Golden was strong right now. More than anything, she didn’t want Abacus and Golden to hate her because she had ruined their evening together by showing up uninvited with her problems in tow.

“Ditzy, wait.” Abacus started after her, but an earth pony appeared in the doorway. Abacus paused, then without a word he pushed his way past the untimely deliverypony.

“Hey!” The startled pizzapony snarled at Abacus’ rude passing. He turned to Golden. “Did somepony here order a pizza?”

“Yes. Thank you, we did.” Goldie struggled to be polite, when what she wanted to do was follow Abacus. She hurried to finish their transaction with the pizzapony.

Ditzy didn’t hesitate. In fact, she picked up her pace. She wanted to run, hide, or do anything to get out of there. Anything to get out of their way. “Enjoy your evening together. Goodbye.” She said without even turning her head.

“Ditzy, you don’t have to leave!” Abacus said overloud to be sure she heard him. He moved from a trot to a canter to catch up with her retreat. “Why don’t you stay and have dinner with us?” He said breathlessly as he tried to get around her in the narrow hall.

“I…I can’t.” Ditzy reached the door to the stairway and pulled open the door.

“Why?” Abacus pushed her against the door jam. Her overstuffed saddlebags now wedged against him and the jam and prevented her from leaving.

Ditzy shoved back with her flank, but kept her head facing the exact opposite direction from him. “I don’t want to interrupt your dinner together.” She tried to force her way through the door again.

“You aren’t interrupting!” Abacus was actively struggling against her now, and having a tough time. “We haven’t started…and we are…inviting you to join us.” He said trying to sound like he wasn’t exerting himself.

Ditzy was gaining the advantage “I…just…can’t!” She broke free, and stumbled onto the landing of the stairwell.

Abacus jaws snapped on a strap dangling from her pack “Why…can‘t…you?” Abacus said through clenched teeth.

“Because…I…I’m not hungry!” An unmistakable growl from her rebellious stomach told a different story. She stopped struggling and just hung her head.

Abacus spit out the strap and trotted around and stood in front of his friend. “Ditzy,” he sighed, lifting her muzzle tenderly with a fore hoof. “Please. Come back and have dinner with us. I…We…both want you to stay, and it is far too late for you to fly to Fillydelphia.”

He said please. He sounded sincere. He was looking directly at her and stroking her cheek. She never could say no to him. “Okay,” Ditzy surrendered. “Thank you, I’ll stay.” It was true what he said, it was too late to fly to Fillydelphia, and too cold, and she hadn’t eaten anything all day. She normally ate a free meal at work, but couldn’t do that today because of…of…

“Ditzy?”

Startled, and unaware she had dropped her head again, she looked up to see Abacus with a puzzled, worried expression.

“Ditzy, what’s wrong?” The concern for her in his voice was thick, so heavy and thick that it forced Ditzy past the line she had determined she would not cross the moment she heard Golden answering his door.

“I… I got…” Ditzy’s eyes shut a moment too late and sent all her unshed tears racing down her cheeks. “I got fired!” Her wail of grief finally giving voice to her circumstance was the crack needed to break through the dam she had constructed of her will to contain her increasing flood of emotion. There, framed by the door, burdened by her physical possessions, she finally began to empty herself of all her pent-up emotional baggage. She sobbed freely and unabashedly, squeezing the story of the day’s events out one syllable at a time. “I… sp…illed…ha…hot… s…soup…ah…all…over…ah…a…colt!”

“Ohhh, Ditzy!” Goldie said sympathetically from the doorway. Ditzy hadn’t noticed her arrival, but now she was in the forefront, wrapping her in an embrace and guiding her back into the hallway. “Come inside. Come inside right now and tell us everything.”

She dropped back to her hooves in the hall, but pressed her neck against Ditzy’s in the common equine manner of reassurance and affection. Neck and neck, they walked back to the apartment, Ditzy sobbing and Goldie whispering consolations. Acting in concert, Abacus followed and closed his door behind them. Then he started helping Ditzy shed her pack and saddlebags. Afterward, Goldie led her to sit on the couch while Abacus brought her a drink of water from the kitchen and a box of tissues. All the while Ditzy kept fitting in the bits and pieces of her day between her quivering breaths. Soon a pile of tissues lay on the floor. But by then, the storm was spent. Ditzy’s story of her horrible day had been told.

“And that’s when I decided to come here.” Ditzy sniffed and plucked the last tissue out of the box.

“Ohhh, Ditzy!” Goldie cooed as she gathered her in her forelegs again. Abacus too, now joined them for a group hug with Ditzy in the middle. “We are sooo glad you did come here!”

Ditzy had thought she had finally run out of tears, but now with Golden’s compassionate ministrations joining Abacus’ warm, safe embrace she was welling up again.

“Re…Really?” She squeaked out.

“Absolutely, Ditzy.” Abacus affirmed.

It was all too much for Ditzy. She had braced herself against emotional pain and insults all day, but now, she found she was powerless in the face of her friend’s love and acceptance. She started crying again. But this time, she was unable to do or say anything until the tide had subsided. When she finished, she was holding a damp kitchen towel, and still braced on each side by Goldie and Abacus. “Thank you.” She lay the towel in her thigh and wrapped a foreleg around them both to return their embrace. “Thank you, both, very much!”

An unmistakable growl from an unsentimental stomach interrupted. All three friends traded looks, however, only Ditzy looked sheepish. “How about we eat now, before I start to cry again?”

It was a good thing he wanted leftovers and ordered a large Mediterranean style pizza. Ditzy had been ravenous, and was now happily devouring the last piece of pizza. The only leftovers was looking like it was going to be Goldie’s half-eaten slice and the small pile of mushrooms she had removed from her first piece. Abacus glanced over at Goldie as she emptied her wineglass. She met his eyes. He tilted his head. She shook hers. He got to his hooves and magically collected all their wineglasses and took them into the kitchen. Meanwhile, paper plates and soiled napkins were magically gathered into the empty pizza box and floated to the trash bin by Goldie.

“I wish I was a unicorn.” Came an unhappy reply to the rapid tidying up. “Then I wouldn’t be making so many mistakes.” Ditzy then popped her last bite in her mouth.

“We all have traits about ourselves we would like to change, Ditzy.” Goldie got up and sat on her haunch next to her. “I know you have had a really tough day and you are having trouble seeing your strengths right now, but let me tell you, I’m certain you will find a place you belong, and a job that needs somepony just like you.”

“Thanks, Golden.” Ditzy half-smiled, “and thank you Abacus for dinner.”

“You’re welcome.” Abacus laid down with a legal notepad and pencil. “Do you think you can talk to us about what happened with your landlady?”

“Yes, Ditzy,” Goldie interjected, “I don’t think she had legal standing to deny you your security deposit.”

"But, she showed me those bills, an’ I did brake those keys, an’ crash in the planter.” Ditzy looked confused.

“Yes, but you also stated that there was a problem with the locks, and that you didn’t kill every plant in the planter.” Goldie took the legal pad and pencil and started writing notes. “I’m also certain you had nothing to do with the spa catching fire. I think she was taking advantage of your trusting nature and making you believe that you were responsible for her maintenance deficiencies.”

“Huh?”

Goldie smiled. “I think you are being blamed for breaking objects that were already broken.”

“But the plants…”

“What you said is true, Ditzy, you are only responsible for those that you damaged.”

“But she said she didn’t want her planters to look as stupid as me.”

Goldie’s countenance turned to flint. “It still isn’t your responsibility, and I swear to you now, I will do my best to see that she regrets saying that to you!”

“Do you think a lawyer is a good idea?” Abacus interrupted. “It is only 200 bits.”

“A lawyer?” Ditzy looked shocked, “I can’t afford a lawyer?”

Goldie laid a hoof on Ditzy’s shoulder. “I work in a legal office, I’m going to ask if there are any lawyers interested in some pro-bono work.”

“Pro bono?” Ditzy scratched behind her ear.

“Sometimes lawyers look for hard luck cases and offer their services for free.” Abacus explained. “Just try to remember everything as accurately as you can. Also try to remember any ponies who may have seen or heard anything.”

They spent the next hour recording everything Ditzy could remember. Names, addresses, times, complaints, and insults. Goldie took exhaustive notes. At the end of the hour, she flipped through the pages she had filled in speedy review and yawned.

Abacus looked at the clock. “It’s time for you to leave.”

“Okay.” Ditzy started to get up.

Goldie giggled softly, “He was talking to me, Ditzy. I have to go to work tomorrow. You are staying here tonight.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Ditzy looked between Goldie and Abacus nervously.

“I’ll walk you out.” Abacus didn’t answer, letting it be seen as a forgone conclusion that Ditzy was going to stay overnight and got to his hooves with Goldie. “Ditzy, why don’t you get ready for bed?”

“Okay,” She got to her hooves and gave Goldie a hug. “Thank you for everything!” Her voice was on the verge of breaking again.

Goldie returned her embrace. “Shhhh, it’s all right, I’m happy to help.”

“Do you really think that you will find somepony to work pro bono?” Abacus whispered to Goldie as they were walking down the hallway to the stairs.

“I wouldn’t have said anything if I didn’t think I had a chance.” She whispered back. “I think, that even if there is nopony wanting to take this pro bono, she has a strong enough case for a small claims court at the very least.”

They went down the stairs in silence. Once in the lobby, Abacus brushed his shoulder against Goldie. “I really appreciate you doing this for her. She really needs a good friend like you.”

“I’m happy to do it for her.” Goldie responded, “She’s a friend of a good friend of mine.” She stopped and smiled.

Abacus stopped and turned toward her. “Friend of a good friend? I better be more than just a good friend.” He faced her and pressed his horn and muzzle against hers. “Now where was I…?” He tilted his head and pressed his lips against hers, finding her lips were already parted. Their tongues extended, touched, slid, and separated. Their lips completed their dance a minute or so later.

“Goodnight” They said together.

Abacus quietly opened the door to his apartment to find that Ditzy was wrapped up in one of his quilts, sound asleep on his couch. As quietly as he could, he brushed his teeth and climbed into his bed. He didn’t lie down immediately, but watched Ditzy sleeping. Her body’s curves rising and falling with her breathing. He admired her freshly brushed mane reflecting the faint moonlight in the room.

“I hope I can help you find a job tomorrow,” He whispered, “I don’t want you to go back to your mother. You are far too beautiful for that place.” He laid down and let sleep claim him.

Author's Note:

The card game I imagine them playing is like "Magic: The Gathering", which is a game I have never played...
Thus I have guessed at the actual play of the card game.

Abacus' apartment is a studio.

Comments

[Chakat-Whitetail]

this is actually pretty interesting, and as some one who plays magic your sortof close on how it's played

[97xxfastbike]

3773684
I'm happy to hear I wasn't so off base that those who know those games would find it distracting.
I'm also glad you have liked what you have read so far, and I hope to continue to meet your expectations.
Thank you for your input.