The First Steps of the Rest of Your Life

by Rhino

Chapter 5: Dam It

***Day 4, morning***

Power sleeping, when you sleep so hard you erase any dreams you may have had because they are scared off by the sheer intensity of your unconsciousness. Time itself skips forward because the thought of you sleeping makes it defy the laws of physics in fear. And ponies that normally can barely get a coherent thought in the morning are prone to making epic sounding speeches in their heads the instant they wake up.

I chuckle at my own thoughts as I open my eyes to see a mysterious ball of fur on my chest. Said mysterious ball proceeds to yawn and reveal that it was in fact the squirrel from yesterday and not mysterious at all other than a curious pattern of white fur on its face stretching in two lines from the bridge of his nose, over his eyes, and to the bases of his ears.

I smile at the little creature, “Well good morning to you too.”

He perks up his ears at my voice and proceeds to jump off my chest so I can roll off the couch without squishing him. I stretch my back a bit, but while I’m doing this I notice the squirrel imitate me by doing the same for his.

Ok getting harder to imagine myself leaving you here. You little manipulator you.

I perk my ears up at the sound of a clink from the kitchen. I walk over to the doorway to see Fluttershy making breakfast, though making might be an overstatement for cereal.

I offer a friendly greeting to her, “Good morning Fluttershy.”

She looks up in surprise, “Oh, good morning Rhino, I thought I heard your hoofsteps in the living room.”

I look at the food, “So you’re having a bit of cereal then?”

Way to point out the obvious there, self.

She backs behind her mane again, “Yes, but umm I could make you something else if you want…”

I wave off her offer, “Fluttershy, it’s fine. I like cereal. It’s a classic, easy to make breakfast.”

Fluttershy and I sit down and enjoy a quiet breakfast. The squirrel simply curls up next to me while I eat. We finish up soon enough and volunteer to wash the dishes. And by volunteer I mean insist because she’s been doing a lot and I am feeling like a bit of a moocher. After I finish washing I decide to speak to Fluttershy about something that I have been rolling around in my head for a bit now.

“Fluttershy?” I begin.

She looks up at me, “Yes?”

I motion to the squirrel, “You said this little guy didn’t have a home correct? Well, what would it take for me to adopt him?” His ears stand straight up at this and I can see him quivering a little.

She positively beams, “You want to adopt him? Oh that’s wonderful! I know he’ll be a wonderful pet. As for what it would take though, really all you have to do is name him.”

Name him huh? Hmmm…

I take a look at his coloring and try a name I think might suit him, “How about… Specter.”

The squirrel explodes with enough energy to give Pinkie Pie a run for her money while he runs between my legs and around the room. He stops exactly in front me and simply looks at me, waiting.

Ok that little performance would have cemented this even if I hadn’t already decided I was going to keep him. Time to make it official.

I lean down to his level.

“Well Specter, looks like you’re coming to live with me.”

Instead of the second wave of energy I expected, he simply climbs up my muzzle and parks himself on my head just above my horn. He fits quite nicely and actually blends in with my mane a little.

I could see myself messing with a few ponies who didn’t know about him.

Fluttershy just stands there with a big smile on her face as Specter gets comfortable.

I turn to face her as I ask, “Anything special I should know about taking care of him?”

She shakes her head while maintaining a small smile, “No, just the normal things: feed him, make sure he gets exercise, and give him love.”

Sounds easy enough.

I roll my eyes up to look at my passenger, “Alright then, I guess I’ll get going then, have to get Specter here settled into his new place.”

“Oh don’t forget this,” She flies into the other room and comes back with a small cushion bed and blanket. I take them from her with magic and put them in my bag.

I nod to her, “Thanks again Fluttershy.”

“It’s no problem,” she opens the door for me, “you two have fun now.”

“Yes ma’am.” I salute while chuckling. As I walk down the path Specter and I turn and give Fluttershy a wave as she closes her door while waving back.

Specter and I start on the road back home, him hanging on my head looking around while I simply zone out a bit as I often do on walks by myself. We approach the house some time later and I walk inside.

I look back up to my new friend, “Alright Specs, why don’t you take a look around while I get something to drink?”

He scampers off to, I assume, explore the house. I grab a glass of milk from the fridge.

Ahh, that’s the stuff. Don’t know why someponies find the need for coffee, this works just as well for me. Wonder where Hydro’s at? Well, we have been here a few days, I suppose he’s working. Hmm not much for me to do today, I should drop off these papers at the clinic but after that… I know! I’ll pay Hydro a surprise visit, maybe have lunch over there.

With this I stand up and rinse out my glass. I’m the only one that uses this particular one so I don’t worry too much about washing it every time. I grab my bags and start heading towards the door.

I call out to the house, “Come on Specter, we’re heading out to see a friend!”

He comes gliding down the stairs and lands neatly on my head with what looks like a smirk on his face.

I remark as I step out the door, “Excellent job sticking the landing.”

I lock the door and head my way into town. I drop off the papers with Manila at the clinic and she tells me to drop by tomorrow to discuss hours and get started working. On my way to the dam I find a peculiar stand that I didn’t see yesterday, it seems to sell peanut butter and jelly. The stallion running it seems nice enough but is maybe a little too enthusiastic about one of his products. I buy a jar of peanut butter and one of strawberry jelly. As I walk away I wonder how much of a craving some ponies in this town have for jelly, after all, why else would he have those pony sized jars behind all the others?

Specter and I make our way over to the dam, me Resing there because turns out the dam is quite a bit of a walk away, and Specs just enjoying the breeze from the trip. I just know he’s gonna glide back down any hill on the return trip too. I find the path leading to the entrance down near the river and walk in to find Hydro pushing machinery into a pile. I look around and see a few other piles to complement the initial one.

I announce my presence with a greeting, “Hey Hydro, how’s work?

His ears perk up at my voice, “Hmm? Oh hey Rhino, didn’t expect to see you here.”

I shrug, “I had nothing else to do so I figured I might as well bring some lunch, maybe hear a little more about what you do here.”

He nods appreciatively, “Thanks for that. So, you didn’t come home last night, take my advice and get you some? Give me the deats.”

He knows damn well nothing happened... although, this does give a time for the perfect comeback.

I reach into my bag with my magic, pull out one particular jar, and ask the all-important question:

“You jelly?”

His jaw drops.

Hah, thank you jelly pony.

Hydro shakes his head after a moment and laughs. “Okay, I gotta admit, that was good.”

I chuckle with him, “Thought that would get you, nothing happened though. I just got caught there by the storm.”

He huffs lightly, “Well that’s boring.”

I ignore his disappointment, “I actually got a little something out of it so I think it was well worth it.”

He tilts his head, “What did you get?”

I look up to my mane, “Say hello Specter.”

Specs pops his head out of my mane and Hydro jumps a little.

Two for two, I’m on a roll.

I gesture back and forth between the two, “Hydro, meet Specter, my new pet flying squirrel.”

He looks over the small rodent, “Wow, that’s really cool. I always knew you were a little nuts.”

Damn, should have seen that one coming. At least it’s out of the way now.

“Touche, so what’s with the piles?”

He points to one pile “That one is all the broken parts and rusted out pipes from that break they had.” He points to another pile which the only difference is my eyes is that it’s slightly shinier than the first pile. “That one is the new turbine blades, generators, and other things of that nature that I have to install.” He points to the last large pile. “I have no clue what this one is, it was here when I got here.”

I see another smaller pile off to the side. “What’s this smaller pile of crap over here?”

His deadpan voice answers, “… Those are my tools.”

“…”

“…”

I change the subject, “So when’s you’re lunch break?”

He shrugs, “Pretty much whenever I want, break room’s over there. I’ll meet you in a sec while I finish a few things.”

He’s just adding to the piles isn’t he?

I walk over to the relatively plain break room. Standard stuff really, table, fridge, clock, sink. Only interesting thing is some lights up on the wall that aren’t lit up. I make myself a sandwich while I wait for Hydro. I give Specter a few bits that were mostly peanut butter. When I’m almost done one of the lights start flashing, a yellow one to be precise. No alarm sounds though so I guess it’s probably not that bad. I finish my sandwich and Hydro walks in not really noticing the light.

I gesture to the light, “Umm Hydro, quick question: is that light flashing up there a bad thing?”

He regards the light, “Hmm? I have no idea.”

That… does not inspire confidence.

I respond with a slightly worried tone, “Well, maybe we should see what it means?”

He nods, “Yeah, there’s a list in the control room, follow me.”

We walk over to another room down the hall filled with a plethora of buttons, levers, and screens. Hydro looks over at a list on the wall while I stand here getting more and more anxious. Finally he turns back to me.

I ask quickly, “So, what’s it mean, what’s happening?”

“Oh nothing, it’s just time to pull this lever.” He pulls a rather normal looking lever on the console.

I give him a disbelieving look, “Really? A lever? That’s it?”

He nods, “Yeah, it’s just time to lower the water gates for the day. Take a look.”

I glance at the list, more out of curiosity than anything, when a particular item on the list catches my eye: ‘In case of fire or pressure emergency, water can be vented into main work area by pressing the large green button’

Can it now? Hmm… me thinks some revenge might be needed one day.

I ask, knowing what the answer will probably be, “Hey Hydro mind if I test out this button over here?”

He answers in what sounds like an automatic response, “Don’t touch anything Rhino.”

I keep up the charade of want, “Oh come now, what could happen?” I sidle a little closer to the mystical button.

He rolls his eyes, “Just come on.” He walks out of the room.

I give the button what could be described as an evil look of contemplation as I walk after Hydro.

Someday button, someday you shall be of great use to me, and that day will be glorious!

Hydro and I walk back to the main area with the piles.

He talks to me over his shoulder as he heads back to one of the piles, “Alright dude, I have to get back to work now, thanks for the jelly and stuff.”

“Bring it home with you today once your shift is over.”

He waves back to me, “Can d-“

"HI GUYS!"

We both jump into the air as Pinkie pops out of the tool pile.

What the hay? When did Pinkie get here? How did Pinkie get here? Ugh. Just roll with it, maybe she was hiding.

I just look at her trying not to stare because of my confusion. “Umm hi Pinkie.”

The party pony spouts quickly, “I just wanted to give you your invitations for the party this afternoon!”

She hoofs us two envelopes from the pile of them in the basket on her head.

I raise an eyebrow at her. “Umm Pinkie didn’t we just have a party? How is there another one already?”

She waves me off, “Silly, it’s never too soon for another party. There’s actually another new pony coming into town and since I missed you guys on the first day you came here I’m making sure to be ready for when this stallion gets here today. See you at the party!”

She waves goodbye and disappears down into the pile of tools.

Wait a second.

I go over and spread the tools out a bit so I can see the floor.

There’s nothing here… but-but where did she... how did she… great first she confuses me with her words now her actions do the same. I think I’m just going to have to mentally accept anything that filly does or else I’ll go insane from it all.

Hydro spoke up. “Please tell me there’s a trap door under there I just didn’t notice earlier.”

I look back at him and shake my head.

He looks genuinely scared.

Author's Note:

Pinkie physics, we can never figure them out, but the question is do we truly believe we can handle it if we ever do?

Comments

[Worm]

lol pinkie

[Atomic Vortex]

And that's why EVERYPONY is scared of Pinkie Pie.
Peanut butter and jelly stand....
rocketdock.com/images/screenshots/peanut-butter-jelly-time.gif
PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!!!!

[Little Voice]

How does Pinkie do that?!

[Desert Storm]

Someday button, someday you will be of great use to me. And that day will be glorious!

[Dream Logic]

Pinkie is so creepy and awesome

[Snowstreak]

Specter the flying squirrel?

Specter?
Flying?

Spectre Gunship?

THE SQUIRREL IS A SNIPER! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

[Topranger96]

Fucking hell, wish I would of found this earlier.