Return to Equestria

by David Silver

38 - The Music In You

"Bye!" Joy waved at the last pony heading out the door. The moment they were through it, she rushed over to click the lock into place. "And done..." She sagged against it with a loud huff. "But we did it..." She twirled as she fell, coming down in a seat facing David bonelessly. "Now... Two things!" She raised but one hoof. "Maybe three... One! Dinner. We both deserve a nice one. On me. Haven't counted the bits, but pretty damn sure we can afford something nice, so get to ordering."

David was quietly picking up trash and debris left behind by the manic day of gaming. "You sure you want me to pick? Pony cuisine has proven alright so far, but you're still trusting your dinner to an alien."

"Whatever." Joy waved that away with an angry snort. "You're just picking the place. I can order my own thing once you do that. Second thing! You sure you're not, like, in stoic agony over there?"

David shook one leg and the other to be sure. "All operational. I was surprised, sure, but otherwise alright?" He dug out his phone and got to browsing various restaurants that delivered. "I'm in the mood for pasta."

"Pasta!" she cried in shared enthusiasm. "Sounds great! Order two of whatever. I am too tired to think until there's food in this belly. Three! You ran off like your tail was on fire, which you don't have anymore? What was that about?"

David tapped at the phone busily, getting that going. "Pipster got caught up in The Hole situation. You hear about it?"

"What? Hole?"

So David got to catch her up on the chaos that had bookended the stuck to the floor situation. "Once they stopped fighting and started being civil, the magic came back and the hole closed up."

"Wow." Joy clonked a hoof to the side of her head. "Glad that's sorted. And here we were, just kinda annoyed. Hm. That tournament style play was fun for the holiday, but I don't think I'm up for that repeatedly, so back to solo play!"

David smacked the last button, summoning the food. "I have it set so they'll want to be paid when they get here."

"Great!" Joy managed to get back up to her hooves. "Pip's alright?"

"Scared but fine." David let the phone thunk next to a computer, not feeling up for holding it. "Which is the running theme of today."

"Right?! Seriously..." Joy took a step towards him, but paused. "If I walk away from this door, I have to walk right back when the food gets here. You're already standing, bring me some bits from the register?"

"Sure." He slid around the counter, easier to do on smooth tile with bare feet. With a few presses, the drawer popped open at him and he fetched a few bits. "Won't this throw off your count later?"

"A little." She did not seem that upset. She accepted the bits when offered and stuffed them away into her pony pockets. "Now, seriously... You're acting like nothing happened. I wasn't even the one things were happening to and I feel like I care more."

"It's a net positive." He flopped down to his butt there next to her. "All human, but minus back pain, hirrah. I'm just sad I lost the magic I had."

"Prove it."

David raised a brow at that. "It came from the horn, which I don't have."

"I call horse apples! You just got that horn. If it was all the horn, there's no way you'd already be doing cool things with it. Unicorns took longer to figure out what little they knew."

David scowled at the logic. "And you only bring this up now because..."

"Because now it matters, and before it did not." She counted on her dancing hoof with two beats. "The magic was you, I think? Prove me right, or wrong. Either way, prove it!" She jumped as a clopping started at the door. "Coming!" She forced her way to a stand and soon had a bag full of food. "Dinner's on! I'd ask you to carry me upstairs, but that's a big ask. You're as tired as..." She trailed off as David went to try to heft her up anyway. "Woah hey!" She flopped over his back weakly as he took a shaking stand. "This is an awful idea! What about the food?"

"I'll come back for it." He made slow progress to the stairs, but he was moving, with her. "Got a new spine, may as well abuse it."

"No!" She beat on his head with her hooves. "I am not asking you to do that!"

"Too bad." He half-fell onto the stairs and started climbing them on all fours. That proved faster than the slow two legged trundle to them.

She scrambled off him when they reached the top. "Yay! Now never do that again!"

"Right right." He went right back down, returning with the bag of carted food. "Food!"

There was no disagreement there. They sat at their dinner table and got to chomping down food. "Stop that." Joy waved a fork laden with pasta at David. "You just got a new one, no breaking it over again. I swear, it's alright for a friend to be dissapointed once in a while. I've made it up those steps when I was tired before, promise."

"I don't..." He trailed off, considering his words. "If I can help, I want to."

Joy chomped that fork clean. "You are just as tired as me. You can't help, so saying no is the right decision. If I get angry at that, not much of a friend." She ate contently, but noticed David looked uncomfortable. "Did... somepony treat you like that, before?"

He turned one hand up. "Without ever actually saying it."

"Well, that... That was then. This is now." She put a hoof on her chest. "And in Joypad's joy pad, ponies are allowed to say yes or no and not be called out just for being tired! Besides, I'm not a little thing... And you're not super strong, besides... Don't do that." She wriggled a nose with a growing smile. "I'll put in a catch. You have to say why you're saying no. I doubt you'll ever have a really bad reason, and 'I'm tired right now' is usually good enough unless it's an emergency."

"Right..." He fell back into quiet with some quality devouring time. "Sorry. I know I'm making this awkward."

"Did you live alone?" She peered at him with a new thought.

"No! Actually... I lived with family."

"Oh... That's about as bad sometimes." Joy set her fork down. "They asked you for things, and you gave them."

"If I could?"

"And if you couldn't, you figured out a way to." She steepled her hooves. "The only family you have now is me, and I'd rather a happy David. Oh! Right! I almost forgot."

"Forgot what?" David was still eating. That food was good! The joy of fresh... everything. Sheesh, did they make it all just before cooking it?

"After you get your first gig and pay your share of rent, I'm firing you." She waved at David's startled expression. "I'm not kicking you out. I just want you to get back to what you like doing. You're helping me because you have to, even if you're good at it. You said you were a writer, right? So write! You can use a computer if you like, or I can get you a notepad. Either way. Hey, what'd you write anyway?"

"Stories about fantastical situations, sometimes involving aliens on new worlds, sometimes transforming along the way, physically or otherwise?" He rolled a hand as he spoke, describing his genre. "And game rules. A lot of game rules. I won't be writing that without learning what the local games are and then learning them." He chuckled at the thought. "That'd take a while. Do ponies like fantasy?"

She cocked a brow and pointed to the game console. "We're playing that and you ask if we like fantasy. I'm going to pretend I didn't even hear you."

"That is a yes." He danced a finger in the air. "Is there a site where ponies trade fiction?"

"I dunno." She pulled out her phone and got to tapping with her hoof. How typing worked with a big heart-hoof, David was still not 100% on, but she was managing it. "A search for 'story site' comes up with a lot of hits. Looks like you can buy books online pretty easily, but why do that when there's a book store just down the street?"

Ah, book stores... "I should check that too... But that's a lot of missing steps. How do ponies make money online, usually?"

Joy waggled her phone. "I hear some of them get like tons of views making videos and that turns into bits, somehow... Your face is owned by Pegasoft. They'll probably get angry if you start posting videos besides what they ask for."

David set aside the idea of becoming a famous Ponytuber. "I'll have to look around. I'll promise you this." Joy perked at his words and he smiled in kind. "I'll search, tomorrow, and see what options are open. This is an alien world, and I like it, but that doesn't mean I know it. I'm having fun being your assistant."

"I know that." She swatted at his shoulder in light buffets of her hooves. "And I like having you around and I want you to stay if you want to stay, but you should be doing what you want. And if you happen to help with a problem on the side, bonus!"

He took her hoof suddenly, cradling it in his hands. She colored, peering at him with confusion. He raised the hoof and kissed the back of it and gently released the limb.

"Um." Joy tucked the hoof away. "I thought you said to pretend all that stuff you said never happened. What was that?"

David worried his fingers together in knots. "The last time I was even kinda dating someone, I kissed their hand, and they dumped me right after."

Joy's ears danced. "So you kissed my hoof?! Why?!" She threw her hooves wide. "It didn't work last time!"

"I... It's a test I guess." He glanced furtively around, anywhere but at Joy's face at that moment.

Joy squinted at him. "You want to see if I dump you? Well, I'm not, alien! I can't dump what isn't my boyfriend. You're a friend, a regular friend. A good one, both ways I hope?" She looked to him for a hint, and he nodded. "Good! Now, if you want smooching rights, you'll have to gain a few levels, and I'll tell you when you get there, so no more smooches before then."

David chuckled with relief. "I can't express how happy I am that you casually toss in RPG references into serious conversations."

"Blame it on being a gamer." She hopped down from her chair with a clop and started for the living area. "Speaking of that, we paused right before a good part. You want to continue? 10... 9..."

She was counting down like an arcade. David laughed on realizing this and made a coin inserted electronic noise. "Let's continue." He took what was left of his food over with him, wolfing down the remainder on the way. "I can't wait to see how they get out of that trap. That town looked innocent, too innocent."

"Right?! Obvious trap." She slapped her console, turning it on. "But how do they get out?!" Not that she didn't already know. She had beaten the game, but she offered no spoilers. "Only one way to find out." She pressed the start button and got the game going. "By the way, you want to play a little?"

"I'm pretty happy watching you play." David got cozy there on the couch next to Joy. "I'm feeling cozier in general."

Author's Note:

Let's put a big slice into this slice of life!

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

David could always do a series on historical fiction.?

Tales of Spike the Dragon and his Mane Hoard?

[howard035]

11328940 Thatc would be awesome!

Also I like David playing/learning a bunch of tabletop RPGs.