Pepperdance

by TaliZorah

Chapter 1

*CLOP CLOP CLOP*

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*CLOP CLOP CLOP CLOP*

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*CLOPCLOPCLOPCLOPCLOPCLOP*

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"Bass, it's me! Open up!"

Basschords (ponies usually call him "Bass"; he hates his full name) and I have been best friends for years-- back since our days in Ponyville Elementary. I remember the first day we met...

~~~~~

It was a few months into the school year, right after we got back from winter break. He was from Cloudsdayle-- born and raised-- but his parents decided a change of scenery was in order, and the three of them moved down to Ponyville the day after Hearths Warming Day. it was only his first week on the ground, and he was stil getting over the shock of having something solid under his hooves. Miss Cheerilee, who by now had only been teaching a year or two, sat him in the open desk next in the back row to me.

We were the only blank-flanks left in our class, everypony else already having found their special talents. Although the teasing of blank-flanks wasn't nearly as bad then as it is now, it could get pretty nasty at times. That and the fact that he freaked out every time one of his hooves so much as touched the ground caused a lot of the other students to give him a pretty hard time.

At recess, I found him sitting alone on the swing set (still trying to keep his hooves off the ground), trying to get enough momentum to actually start swinging (pretty hard when you're doing your best to not touch the ground). I went up to him and said "hi." He replied with a simple "hello," but didn't say anything after that, probably thinking I had come over to make fun of him. After a few moments of silence, I walked behind him and gave him a gentle push. He grabbed the chains and looked back, frightened. As he swung back, I gave him another push, smiled, and introduced myself.

"Hi," I started. "My name's Pepperdance. What's yours?"

"Bass," he answered, starting to cheer up.

Giving him another push, I asked, "Are you a blank-flank?" He looked away, embarrassed. "It's okay, so am I!" I said, giving a quick turn of my body. After another silent moment, I asked, "So, where are you from?"

"I'm from Cloudsdayle," he answered, turning back with a smile.

I smiled in return. "Really?" Well, I remember thinking, now I know why he's so afraid of the ground.

We spent the rest of recess talking about Cloudsdayle. About halfway through, he got up and offered to push me on the swing. Back in the classroom, the topic switched to Ponyville and we both kept talking, even through Miss Cheerilee's lessons; we almost didn't notice the bell signaling the end of the day. We've been best friends ever since.

~~~~~

A few weeks ago, I told Bass about my plans to sell my farm. He immediately offered to stay with him, granted I help with the rent. Not a lot, he told me. Just enough so he could afford to house and feed two ponies. Despite its importance, his job as a weatherpony doesn't pay much. Due to the odd hours he's forced to work, I wouldn't be surprised to find him sleeping at this hour, despite it being well past noon. My suspicions were proven correct when I heard the tone f his response.

"Alright, alright! I hear you!" Comes an annoyed voice from somewhere within. I stopped knocking and wait. After a few moments, the sound of a few locks being disengaged can be heard before the door finally opens. Standing on the other side of the doorway is a grey stallion with a messy black mane and green eyes, which are now scowling at me, half-open and bloodshot.

"I was sleeping, Pepper," says the pissed looking pegasus.

"Sorry," I offer sheepishly.

His expression softens and he gives a wing-shrug. "Eh, no big deal. You hadn't woken me up, I'd've probably end up being late to work. Again." He steps aside. "C'mon in," he says, motioning with one of his wings for me to enter.

"Guest room's upstairs. Second door on the left," he calls, walking towards the kitchen. "D'you have all r stuff, or do you need to go back to your house?"

"No, I got it all," I answer, reaching back with a hoof to pat my heavy-laden saddlebags. I sigh before continuing. "All that's left there is furniture, and they got to keep that in the contract."

I follow him into the kitchen and I see him fill up two bowls with cereal. His claims to having just woken up were also evidenced by the fact that he was preparing coffee.

"How much d'you get for the place?" he asks, reaching for a clean mug.

"Sixteen thousand," I reply flatly. 3...2...

"What?!" As a result of his sudden outbrst, a large amount of milk originally indended for the cereal found itself on the ground. "Sixteen... Your farm..." He coughs slightly and takes a moment to collect himself and set the pitcher down. After cleaning the spilled milk, he stares at me. "They cheated you, y'know."

"Well," I start in defense of the businesspony. "The house wasn't exactly seeing its best days..."

"Your money," he says flatly with a shrug. He walks towards the table, bowl in mouth, and sits down. I follow him with the second bowl and sit down across from him. As we begin eating, my thoughts drift back to what was once my home and livelihood.

~~~~~

Inside, not huge. One story, two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room. Outside, a porch overlooking a small front yard. Out back, three acres where I grew my crops. I grew every kind of pepper you could imagine: banana, bell, doctor, habanero... i even had a few small rows of ghost peppers for some of my more daring customers. My small farm was close enough to Ponyville so that it wasn't a hassle to go and set up a stand every morning, but far enough that I usually didn't know of any occurrences in town until I heard about them the next morning.

Sounds great, right? You're probably wondering why I sold it for such a measly sum of bits.

For the last few years, I've noticed an increasing drop in my monthly sales. The change month-to-month was small enough that I didn't pay it much attention. Not everypony likes peppers, and not everyone is gonna buy peppers, I told myself. Well, over the past few months it looks like everypony reached an epiphany of sorts: they didn't like peppers. Everyday, I got fewer and fewer customers. I've tried everything to win them back: selling cheaper, selling exclusively in bulk, selling pepper-based baked goods. In the end, nothing worked, and nothing saved my farm. It got to the point where I was forced to sell my farm, and hope I could find work somewhere else.

~~~~~

With a sigh, I finish my cereal and bring the empty bowl to the sink. I then went upstairs and into the guest room, where I started unpacking my bags. As I finish, I hear Bass calling me from downstairs.

"Pepper, I'm going to work now!"

I open my door to respond. "Alright, have a good day!"

"G'bye!"

And with that, I hear him open the front door. I look out my window to see him flying over rooftops towards town hall to receive that nights weather assignment.

I go downstairs for a glass of water to see that the front door is ajar. I close it, chuckling to myself before retrieving my water and returning upstairs. I take a cool shower, washing myself of the sweat I accumulated from the hot summer air. Afterwards, I return to my room, opening my window a crack to let in the cooler night air. I turn out my lights, crawl into bed, and I quickly fall to sleep.

Comments

[TaliZorah]

Please forgive that ill put together back story at the beginning. It was supposed be put in a later chapter, but one of my friends, whom I had read this earlier, was confused as to who Bass was. Also, short chapter is short.

Don't expect a regular or even a semi-regular posting schedule; I'll post new chapters whenever I'm able to.

Comments, questions, concerns? Just leave a comment, I'd really appreciate it.

[yellow donut]

Bilbo Baggins?

[shallow15]

I like what I'm seeing so far. I got a Pepperdance blind bag too, and I liked her. Glad to see someone else is making use of the character opportunites afforded by the toyline.

[TeXXy]

this was kindof a cheap effort
jus' saiyan

[ThePopeMobile100]

I found your story Starky, you silly pony you

[Mistershield]

Not everypony likes peppers, and not everyone is gonna but peppers, I told myself.

but peppers?

[PegasYs]

I follow him into the kitchen and I see him fill up two owls with cereal. Hah, funny mistake is funny. It seems like some letters are missing throughout your piece.

[TaliZorah]

1208934

What about him?

1208965

Sorry, I'll try harder in the future. The later chapters I have written now are much better, though. I just need to type them out.

1209162

Damnit, you found me.

1209173
1209213

Broken keyboard is broken. I'll be sure to fix those, thanks.

[Mistershield]

1209371

Darn. Hoping butt peppers was a real thing.

[TaliZorah]

1209409

Don't we all?

[Collins4112]

I like what I see so far, your OC is beleivable enough to have sort of a connection to her, but the story could use just a cleaning up here and there. A few missed capitlzations and such. Also, you might want to work on expanding your chapters, but I am hoping to see more as I see that this could be a great story.