Wish Fulfillment (Legacy Version)

by Boopy Doopy

(31) Unskilled Labor

“Wow, I didn’t think you two hit third base already,” Moberly laughed to herself as Shorey and I exited the bedroom the next morning. “Sleeping together? I guess that means I need to get an apartment of my own soon.”

“It’s not how you think it is,” Shorey said as she grabbed some oatmeal to cook for breakfast. “Rally was having nightmares, so I asked if she wanted to stay with me for the night.”

“Sure, that’s the excuse,” the mare laughed. “I won’t be surprised when she keeps on sleeping with you though.”

“If she has more nightmares, she probably will. But even if we were doing other things, what would it affect?” Shorey asked. “We’re both adults, and we’re dating. It’s not like it’d be some sort of revelation if something else was happening.”

I could tell Shorey was trying not to blush, but she was just a little bit. She was definitely embarrassed by the assertion that something else was going on.

“I didn’t say anything would be wrong with it,” Moberly said, shrugging. “I just didn’t think you were the kind of person who would get to third base so quickly.”

She only rolled her eyes as she made breakfast, sending a quick glance my way before getting to business. I sat on the couch with Moberly as she worked, who glanced between Shorey and I before shaking her head to herself and laughing.

“You know, I don’t know if I said it before, but I honestly didn’t ever expect you two to get together,” she started. “I mean, everyone knew you liked her, I just didn’t think she really liked you back. But now I guess in eleven months I’ll be seeing a foal, won’t I?”

“You don’t have to be jealous,” I replied. “I’m sure you can find a stallion to be with and try on cute dresses with so you can have a foal, too.” It got her to shut up as her own face went bright red at the idea.

It was a couple of more days of work after that before we were paid again, and with the money we took the date we said we would. Just like we planned, we went to a play, one that was apparently of Princess Celestia and Luna defeating King Sombra a thousand years ago. We didn’t know it was going to be free, but since it was, afterward, we went out to eat.

It wasn’t anything fancy, just a pizza place, one that served some interesting pizza types, including the barbeque and vegetable one we had. It didn’t taste that great to me, but I ate it since Shorey liked it. We also had some chocolate pie, something that was really good. I knew it should’ve been put into savings, and that every time I spent money unnecessarily, it was another week I had to live as I was. But it was a lovely time anyway, and very much worth it.

It was mostly us just talking together while we ate. Talking about the future, about what we would do once we found better jobs and bigger apartments and got to Ponyville and everything. It felt a little weird talking about future stuff like this, but not bad. A lot of stuff I already knew, like how she wanted four kids and how she wouldn’t name them until they were born, but we talked a little bit about it anyway. It was time spent with her talking about herself anyway, something I enjoyed.

“I need to buy a piano or a keyboard… and a typewriter for myself, too,” I said. “I don’t know if I can make money from either of those things, but I sure do want to try. I’m getting kind of fed up with having a bunch of thoughts in my head and no way to jot them down or think them out.”

“Well you know that typewriter is both of ours,” she said. “You can tell me I’m hogging it if you think I am.”

“No, you’re not hogging it. I’m mostly talking about sitting there unproductively, staring at the blank page and wishing something would come to mind,” I said. “It just sucks that I have to abandon all the stories I was already writing in the middle of them. I don’t have very many new ideas. Not to mention, a lack of a backspace key is throwing me off.”

“I know what you mean about that,” she agreed. “Thankfully I’ve had practice using a typewriter before. It is more difficult.”

“It is. Honestly, writing in a notebook would probably be easier for me. But mostly I want a piano so I can get back into writing music. Or maybe just steal songs from artists on Earth that I already know how to play and call it mine. Something to make money.”

“I can try and save up to buy one for you,” she offered. “I don’t know how much one would cost, but I can save up for that for you.”

I smiled happily at the idea. “You’re way too nice for your own good. You don’t have to do that.”

“I’m not too nice,” she said. “And besides, I know it’s something you would do if you could.”

“Well, either way, I think a better paying job would have to come first. I think we should try and start looking for something this week if we can. Or ask for pay raises from Paper Page. More money is a top priority.”

“We’ll look for things,” she assured me. “I think Moberly’s seriously considering getting an apartment of her own.”

“What? Why? I mean, I know she’ll need one eventually, but I thought we’d stay together as a group for longer than a few weeks.”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, “but losing a third of our income isn’t a great thing.”

That was an understatement. Losing a third of our income would be extremely bad. It’d make it almost impossible to save up for anything, let alone get to Ponyville.

Shorey could clearly see how anxious what she said made me, and quickly put a hoof on my shoulder to try and set me at ease again. “We’re going to be fine, okay?” she assured me. “I promise. It’s all going to work out.” She sent a smile my way that set me at ease and told me I should trust her.

“Okay,” I said, letting out a slow breath. “Okay. I trust you. Can we start looking for better jobs soon though? Like, next week? Or even tomorrow?”

“Next week is fine. I wanted to make tomorrow a writing day for me though. Oh, and I have a surprise for you, except you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get it.”

“Aw, you don’t have to give me anything,” I told her. “I don’t need anything. Especially if we’re probably going to be tight on money soon.”

“It’s not anything super expensive, and it’s going to be something I know you’ll love. Besides, you and I both know that you’d go out of your way to get me stuff if you could.”

That was true, and was a statement that was proven so more than once since I’d known her. It made me smile that she was doing something nice for me, not that I was surprised, since she was probably the nicest pony in the entire world.

The rest of the date after that was more talking, and before long, we were heading back to the apartment to relax for the rest of the night. I had more nightmares that night, and so for the second time, I was waking up at Shorey’s side. There were no comments from Moberly this time, and the morning was filled with more exercising. This time instead of running the whole time, we did what Shorey suggested I do and tried to find a way to get lifting done, if such a thing was possible as a pony. Without much equipment, we had to settle for bucking the air and what amounted to tying a large boulder to me to drag around and build up a sweat. Honestly, it didn’t feel any different than when she and I just galloped around and did cardio, but I didn’t question her advice since this was what she was doing for years before coming to Equestria.

“You know, this actually gives me an idea for what we could do to get more money,” Shorey started once we were done with our session. “You could sign up to be a cab driver.”

Hearing that, that automatically sounded absolutely terrible. Exercising made me feel better, but that didn’t mean I liked doing it. I hated labor intensive jobs even more. But if it got me more money, I would suck it up and do it. Not to mention, it was more exercise, which might improve my mental state even more.

“Do you know where I’d apply to be something like that?” I asked.

“I’m sure we could find somewhere to apply for something like that in a city this big. And I bet they have a huge turnover, so getting in shouldn’t be an issue. It might be a weird job for a non earth pony, but I think you’re strong enough to avoid having an issue doing it.”

“Yup, my big, monsterish body should be able to pull anypony wherever they want to go,” I said, only a little bit of bitterness in my voice. She frowned sadly at my comment, and I continued, “Sorry, I don’t mean to complain. If it’s more money, it’s a good idea. I didn’t see any ads for it anywhere though when we were originally looking.”

“I’m sure it’ll be easy to find a place to work in a business like that. I mean, we’ve seen carts all over the city.” Then she said, “Now let me go and get that surprise I’m getting for you. You stay here while I do.”

I headed inside with that and flopped onto the couch, tired and sweaty, Moberly cooking breakfast.

“Did you hear?” I asked, not bothering to move or look her way. “I’m gonna become an unskilled laborer. Isn’t that great?”

“Were you not exactly that already?” she asked. “Doesn’t sound like you’re changing your position very much.”

“Yeah, well the hope is that I’m gonna get paid more. Plus more exercise is a good thing, right?” Then I lifted my head and looked over to her as I asked, “Are you really gonna find an apartment of your own soon?”

“I don’t know. Probably. I have to eventually. Better sooner than later, right? And besides, I don’t really want to have to sleep in the bed that you two are already sharing.”

“Um, we’re not doing anything,” I said, now unable to help but blush, “and honestly, isn’t it smarter to wait to move until we all get better jobs first? It’s difficult to maintain living alone if you don’t have a good job beforehand.”

Moberly only shrugged. “It is what it is. I’m sure I can make a lot of money just using the things I know from Earth, and Shorey can make a lot of money writing. Plus you just said you were gonna find a job that pays a lot better, right? You’ll be fine.”

Don’t get anxious. Shorey said we’d be fine. All we’d need is like thirteen extra bits between us to replace her income anyway. That shouldn’t be difficult at all to get.

“Are you okay?”

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking. Is it gonna be soon you’re leaving?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Just… whenever. I haven’t planned anything out yet. It’s not a big deal. We can all live in seperate places and then head to Ponyville together when we have enough money to get there. Staying in the same cramped little apartment isn’t a requirement.”

I knew I was just being silly and getting nervous for no reason, and took a breath to keep myself calm. Not that there was much other conversation to be had, since Shorey was walking back inside a little while later with a familiar tan dress. It made me almost completely forget about being stressed out just a second ago.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I said with a large, bright smile as she placed the thing into my hooves. “You’re being too nice to me.”

“I’m not being too nice,” she assured me. “And besides, you helped pay for that typewriter. I wanna be able to pay you back.”

I put it on immediately, heading over to the bathroom mirror a second later. Yeah, exercising might have been helping with dysphoria, but this dress was likely going to have more to do with bettering my mental state than that. I could almost imagine I actually looked like a mare with the thing on.

“Just so you know,” I said, “I’m probably gonna wear this everyday until it’s a ragtag threadbare old thing. I look so good in it.”

“You absolutely do,” she said in agreement, coming into the bathroom with me. “It’s nice seeing you smile.”

It felt nice being able to smile naturally. Pretending it and actually wanting to were two completely different things. I couldn’t help but continue to do so as I swished my body around back and forth and took in my almost nice looking appearance in the mirror.

Comments

[Luckyfanisaac]

We didn’t know it was going to be free, but since it was, afterward, we went out to eat.

[Chrome Masquerade]

“If she has more nightmares, she probably will. But even if we were doing other things, what would it affect?” Shorey asked. “We’re both adults, and we’re dating. It’s not like it’d be some sort of revelation if something else was happening.”

I'm with Shorey on this one.

“You know, I don’t know if I said it before, but I honestly didn’t ever expect you two to get together,” she started. “I mean, everyone knew you liked her, I just didn’t think she really liked you back. But now I guess in eleven months I’ll be seeing a foal, won’t I?”

“You don’t have to be jealous,” I replied. “I’m sure you can find a stallion to be with and try on cute dresses with so you can have a foal, too.” It got her to shut up as her own face went bright red at the idea.

Ooh! Di-rect hit!

[Chrome Masquerade]

It was mostly us just talking together while we ate. Talking about the future, about what we would do once we found better jobs and bigger apartments and got to Ponyville and everything. It felt a little weird talking about future stuff like this, but not bad. A lot of stuff I already knew, like how she wanted four kids and how she wouldn’t name them until they were born, but we talked a little bit about it anyway.

As a mormon I knew once said,

"I want a wife who'll have five kids... and a sense of humour."

“No, you’re not hogging it. I’m mostly talking about sitting there unproductively, staring at the blank page and wishing something would come to mind,” I said. “It just sucks that I have to abandon all the stories I was already writing in the middle of them. I don’t have very many new ideas. Not to mention, a lack of a backspace key is throwing me off.”

That brings to mind...