Daydream, an earth pony citizen of Ponyville, thought he had come to terms with losing his true purpose for moving to Ponyville years ago. Will he realize that some reasons still remain after all?
For a thousand years Princess Luna was banished to the moon and while Her sister could raise the moon as She had, even She had Her limits. The Dream Guardians were created to protect the ponies of Equestria as they slept each night, a secret organization chosen by Princess Celestia Herself to assist and defend their assigned communities without the pony citizens knowledge.
Chosen during the last weeks of the Royal Guard Academy, Daydream accepted The Princesses' request and was sent to Ponyville as a simple cash office worker for Rich's Barnyard Bargains, happily helping his new neighbors both day and night.
However, only a few months after his arrival a new pony came to town, Twilight Sparkle. She freed Princess Luna from the released Nightmare Moon and once again Equestria was returned to its true balance.
Only days later The Dream Guardians were retired by The Royal Sisters, leaving Her newest Guardian purposeless in the town of Ponyville yet still under his royal vows of secrecy.
It has been years since his arrival and the question of whether he truly has a purpose in Ponyville, or anywhere, has began to weigh heavily upon his thoughts...
(This is set just after the end of "The Cutie Map" (Season 5) and will try to remain cannon as much as possible.)
Daydream looked down from the small wall clock and reassured himself that everything was finished for the day as his bright blue eyes swept across the small cash office of the Barnyard Bargains. The empty twenty-bit bags were all stacked neatly for his return on Monday, while the gem pouches, each simply stitched with a “2b, 5b, 10b, 20b, 50b & 100b, were equally organized along the tabletop that extended from the wall opposite the rather imposing looking door. The air was filled, as always, with Lavender Blush and Green Jewel's constant conversation.
As both the primary weekday cashiers and the ever beating heart of the Ponyville gossip grapevine Daydream had found that even the two, formidable locked doors he passed to enter his office did nothing to muffle their constant conversing both together and with every mare that passed through the store about everything from Berry Punch's latest cider-induced silliness to Princess Twilight's new, beautiful crystal castle. If it happened in Ponyville, or was known about by someone in Ponyville, it made its way into their torrent of topics.
When he first arrived a few years before he thought he was really working at the Barnyard Bargains just to be near the two gossipy mares, hearing every problem and getting a little bit of insight, good and bad, on every pony in town.
For the first few months at least...
Daydream shook his head and returned to his “parting routine” with the office.
The left side of the room was dominated by a dark gray, iron safe that Daydream was still fairly certain he could squeeze himself into if he ever actually possessed the need, which he opened with a few deft turns of the combination dial and a heavy pull of the bright silver handle. Swinging open he imagined the swell of an orchestra as the filled bags of bits and pouches of gems came into view. Daydream chuckled softly to himself as he thought how some things never seemed to get old.
Reaching into the cavernous, iron maw he carefully extracted one gem pouch from the stored wealth he had spent his day counting. A single, large bulge distorted the “100b” that marked the outside of the black, velvet fabric.
“So, time to go make Mr. Rich's day and finish mine.”
Daydream spoke out loud to no one, sliding the pouch into his empty right flank pocket as he slowly closed the safe door and pulled the lever back to the locked position. His gray coat was only a little lighter then the iron of the safe, which made his dark brown mane and tail seem colorful by comparison. Each was a little long for a stallion, even though his Mother, Buttons, had cut it during his last trip to see her and his father, Twine in Vanhoover a few weeks after summer wrap-up.
A white collar was around his neck, holding his carefully knotted black tie and giving him at least the look of a proper business pony.
Resisting the urge to reach back and pull the pouch from his pocket and re-examine the jewel, which he had done three times today without changing his opinion of its worth, Daydream gave his office another look as he prepared to leave for the weekend.
The typewriter was in the center of the table top, the two keys and space bar giving a warm, coppery glow beneath the lights. Next to it was the mounted magnifying glass he used for gem appraisals, just across from the safe and with only enough space between the two that he had to stand on his back legs to be able to work with it, not that he minded. A small fan was on the floor, as much a necessity during the winter as it was the summer in the windowless room. The office was small, though it had become the embodiment of his purpose in Ponyville for years now.
Locking the door to the cash office with the key carried in his left flank pocket, Daydream made his way though the register room. Here the reset bags for the cash registers were kept for the cashiers to pull out at the beginning of their shifts. The right side of the room, as he was leaving at least, was similarly dominated by a table top extending from the walls at about the tops of his legs in height, a second type writer and a stack of paper, ink and quills for the cashiers to use if they wanted to leave a note for him or Mr. Rich about anything.
Daydream opened the next heavy, locked door and then immediately turned and locked it behind him with the same key before returning it to his left pocket. Lavender and Green both paused for a moment.
“You're so lucky you can start your weekend so early, Day.” Green Jewel smiled, bringing a smile from Daydream despite himself. She was a pretty, green earth mare with a blue-green mane and tail, a pair of cut diamonds on each flank.
“You just need to start before Princess Celestia raises the sun and you can leave early too.” Daydream nodded, the two of them repeating this exact conversation almost every week.
“That is just so early...” Lavender Blush, a cute pink earth pony with a not-at-all surprising lavender mane and tail, both a little longer and straighter then Green's, struggled to keep from yawning. It seemed their constant rumor sharing was all that really kept her going as the day wore on.
Daydream gave her a nod as well and then turned toward Filthy Rich's office door and quickly crossed the half-dozen paces. He gave the door a soft knock and then lowered his hoof to the door latch and found it unlocked. Mr. Rich only locked the door if he was busy, so Daydream knew he wouldn't be interrupting anything his employer thought was too important by entering.
“Day.” Filthy Rich looked up from his desk and the three piles of paperwork that largely covered it with a smile. “Is it that time already?”
Filthy Rich was easily the most successful business pony in Ponyville, son of one of the town founders and an unbelievably good boss. His charcoal black mane, with only the occasional hint of gray was slicked back in almost a caricature of business pony chic. A white collar around his neck held his favorite red tie with the golden currency sign on it, standing out from his tan coat. Three full bags of bits were on his flank, showing his business talent to anypony that saw him.
“I'm afraid so.” Daydream joked back, their business relationship actually one of the closest friendships he had here. “Though the room is balanced to the last bit and I happened to have a special case to bring up.”
Mr. Rich's light blue eyes light up. “Special cases” was the term they used for unusually high value gems that Daydream preferred to get his assurance on, which even years after joining his Barnyard Bargains “work family” Filthy still appreciated.
Daydream slowly pulled the gem pouch from his pocket, making sure the “100b” was visible before he handed the still closed bag to his boss. He knew Mr. Rich liked to unwrap expensive surprises.
Sitting back on his haunches still behind the desk, Filthy coaxed the beautifully cut, blue diamond into his manicured hoof and just stared for several seconds. Daydream watched the reveal for a few moments before letting his eyes drift down to the desk below. Framed pictures of his daughter, Diamond Tiara, lined the stacks of papers, the quill and ink stand and guarded one side of the small vase that was on the corner of the desk nearest the middle of the office. A single image of his wife Primrose, deceased for over a year before Daydream had met Mr. Rich stood on the other side of the vase, a single red rose extending from the pretty, blue crystal container.
“Beautiful.” Filthy placed the gem pouch down on what appeared to be a stack of fruit shipping receipts and pulled his magnifying glass from a drawer. Daydream scooted back slightly even with the desk between them as Mr. Rich turned the gleaming stone first to one side, then the other to see how the light passed through the facets.
“Do you know who we got it from?”
“There wasn't a note, though I would guess it was from Miss Rarity.” Daydream thought back to when he first pulled the jewel from the register pouches much earlier that morning. “The cut doesn't look like it was done here in town, while the color is a little pale for Ponyville stones. It looks like it could be from the Crystal Empire, at least from the smaller ones we've received after the Equestria Games.”
Daydream had come to Ponyville with no more experience appraising gems, or counting bits for that matter, then any other pony got apart from just growing up. He would get a 20b gem from his grandponies on his birthday and Hearthwarming Eve, but he still more or less depended on the store cashier or bank teller to accept it for what he thought it was worth when he used them.
He occasionally found gems when he was younger while wandering around the camp towns his father was assigned in the Royal Guard, though he usually just turned them in for bits at the nearest bank and was just happy to get some extra spending money.
Working with Mr. Rich in the cash office had taught Daydream a great deal about Equestrian currency, which he supplemented with a lot of reading during his off-time. His experiences since coming to Ponyville let him take some “educated guesses” about the jewel in question.
“The Crystal Empire.” Mr. Rich smiled. “I have to say this gives me a little more reason to visit. Miss Rarity has said she made some new clients outside of town not too long ago.” Filthy was always sure to keep his contacts within Ponyville business as current at possible, both to scope out new means to expand his business as well as to keep an eye out for the town. Ponyville was as much his father's legacy as Barnyard Bargains, and he had no desire to see either fail in any way.
“Well, wherever it came from, you have definitely placed it correctly.” Filthy Rich returned his magnifying glass to its drawer, then gently rolled the jewel back into the velvet gem pouch. “So I take it you want to get out of here and start your weekend.” Filthy shot Daydream a smirk, even as Day reached into his left pocket and pulled the shiny copper key to the cash office out to return.
“Well.” Daydream released the key to Mr. Rich's hoof. “The sooner I go, the sooner I can start counting the hours until I'm back...” Daydream chuckled, hoping he sounded liked he was joking.
“Alright, smarty-pony. Don't have too much fun.” Filthy slipped the key into his own left pocket, where it would stay until he met Daydream Monday morning an hour before sunrise. “And Daydream, good job this week.” Mr. Rich reached over the desk and gently placed a hoof on his shoulder, not an especially unusual occurrence, prompting Daydream to give him a smile and a nod.
“Thank you, Mr. Rich. I'll see you next week.”
Filthy smiled and nodded back, slowly turning back to the piles of paperwork as Daydream stepped back onto the sales floor and quietly closed the door.
Daydream smiled and nodded to Golden Harvest, who was checking out a saddle bag of groceries, without calling out and interrupting her daily “rumor fix” from Green Jewel and Lavender Blush. She returned the same, her bouncy orange mane happily bobbing through the motion.
The break room was to the back of the store, bringing Daydream into “smile and nod” distance of a hoof-full of customers. Toe-Tapper, one of The Pony Tones, was getting boxes of cereal. Blossomforth was buying some muscle relaxant, one of her wings a little canted from the other as she reached down for the bottle with a slight twinge that she still managed to change into a smile as Daydream acknowledged her. Apple Stars was floating a large bag of fish flakes into her cart as she paused, the pink glowing pet food still in mid-air, and smiled and nodded back to him.
Daydream finally crossed the store and stepped into the employee lounge. Several tables, each surrounded by chairs filled the space. Looking to the clock on the wall, identical to the one in his own office, it read “2:05.”
“They are almost here.” Daydream mentioned to himself as he turned to the open closet and pulled his saddle bags down from the hook he had placed them on that morning. They were a nice, off-white, with his own cutie mark on each bag flap. A gleaming white castle that he was sure the ruins he had been in during his “cutie mark manifestation” would have looked like when it was still standing. While the saddle bag recreation of his cutie mark was obviously his alone, even Granny Smith's amazing embroidery skills couldn't capture its exact appearance. One tower was a little thin and the other a little wide. The windows were slightly too large.
“Nitpick much...” He snorted to himself as he opened the left bag and reached into a small pocket on the inside of the pouch, which was otherwise filled with a cloak and scarf for bad weather. In the pocket a small card slid out into his hoof, which he didn't even take completely from the inside of the pouch. He just wanted to read it again.
If you ever need to talk, just come right over.
It wasn't signed, though it didn't have to be. Granny Smith had given it to him during his first birthday in Ponyville, almost three and a half years ago now. Staring at the card for another breath, he slid it back into its pocket and looked back to the clock.
2:06
“Time to go.”
Daydream walked back to the front of the store with an even, slightly slower then normal pace. The fillies would be here at the usual time, getting there earlier wouldn't change that in the least. Bulging Biceps noticed him and raised a hoof in an overly dramatic show of acknowledgment before returning to his cart full of protein mixes. Brass Blare, his trumpet sticking out of a saddle pouch with his musical note cutie mark on it, nodded and smiled to him over a cart of vegetables.
Daydream returned their mostly silent greetings and continued to the front, pausing at the end of the canned vegetable aisle just as the door to the Barnyard Bargain flew open and a flash of silver white and pewter gray appeared inside. The streak of shades sharpened to a small filly with a beautiful, silver-white and light gray streaked mane that had been bound in a single braid hanging just past her left shoulder. Light blue glasses balanced on her nose as she frantically dusted herself off from her run from the school grounds. Silver Spoon's back left leg still held the door behind her open as her best friend stepped inside behind her.
“You know he isn't going to leave before we get here.” Diamond Tiara, Mr. Rich's prized pink coated daughter rolled her eyes expertly, though she also dusted herself off and gently adjusted her gleaming namesake atop her lavender and white striped mane. The tiara on her flank seemed to glisten as she sat back on her haunches.
“Well...No.” Silver Spoon reached up and corrected her necklace of shiny, blue pearls as she turned to Diamond. “But he has been working since before the sun was raised, so I'm sure he doesn't want to just wait...Oh, Mr. Daydream.” Silver turned and saw him at the end of the aisle.
“How was work today?” Anticipation sparkled off of Silver Spoon as excess energy ran through her.
“It was pretty good, Miss Silver. Thank you for asking.” Daydream bowed slightly as he slowly stepped forward. Green Jewel and Lavender Blush both looked to each other and raised hooves to their mouths so the trio couldn't see them lip synching along with their daily meeting.
“How was school?”
“Well...We had a test, but it wasn't that hard. Then we worked on a team project for our history grade, so Diamond Tiara and I are going to give a report as though we were reporters during the events of the first Hearthwarming Eve.” Excitement made her words quick and a little “quivery” as she reported about her day in happy fashion.
“I'm glad things are going so well. I don't suppose I could get the two of you something?” Daydream made his way to the candy counter as Diamond Tiara sighed and began her own practiced routine.
“You do know that my father owns everything in the store, so you really don't have to buy us anything.” Her head canted to one side, as though she were explaining something to a young foal, not someone nearly twice her age, though even her seemingly instinctive arrogance was more tempered with Daydream.
“True, though I also know how hard your father works to keep a perfectly counted inventory.” Daydream countered, though this was less a conversation then a performance they played through each afternoon after school. “Not to mention, why do stallions work for bits if not to treat pretty young mares?”
Silver Spoon nearly melted, the same way she always did at this part of the show, while Diamond Tiara paused, looking up as though thinking before she looked back to her father's favorite employee.
“True.”
Daydream gave her a smile as he bowed slightly.
“And what would Miss Diamond like this afternoon?” Daydream swept his hoof across the front of the shelves of candy.
“Hmmmm...Some chocolate rose petals would be fine.” Diamond turned to Silver with a smirk, showing her that this was how mares accepted the presents from their adoring followers only to catch herself at Silver Spoon's glare and immediately turn back toward him.
“Please, Mr. Daydream.”
“It would be an honor, Miss Diamond.” Daydream reached out and lifted the bag of chocolate covered flower petals and placed it on the counter of Green Jewel's register before turning back to the young pair.
“And for you, Miss Silver?”
“Ahh... Well...”
Green Jewel stifled a laugh as she watched Lavender Blush perfectly mouth Silver Spoon's words, her face even more expressive then the little filly’s.
“What do you think sounds good?” Silver Spoon leaned in, wanting to make sure she caught every possible syllable of Mr. Daydream's answer.
“Hmmmm. Well.” Daydream turned back to the shelves of confections slowly, stepping to the side so Silver Spoon could see as he looked over the various treats. “How about some...peppermint bark.” Daydream was actually surprised to see something normally reserved for Hearthwarming Eve already available. “Have a taste of the coming holiday a little early.”
Silver Spoon's face lit up, like it always did when he suggested a treat for her, nodding in agreement even as she let his words run through her thoughts over and over again.
“That...That sounds wonderful. Thank you so much, Mr. Daydream.”
Daydream gave her a smile before turning back to the counter, the peppermint bark in hoof, and placing it down next to the chocolate rose petals. Green Jewel rang them up on her register, each of the bags of candy selling for 2b, as Daydream pulled out a 10b green gem from his right saddle bag and handed it to her.
“Please get yourself and Lavender something for your next break.” Daydream smiled to both of the cashiers and then turned and handed to bags to each filly.
“Thanks, Day.”
“Thank you, Daydream.”
Green Jewel and Lavender Blush both thanked him with bright smiles. This was their favorite part of the after school performance.
“Thank you.”
“Thank you, Mr. Daydream.”
Diamond and Silver each responded in turn, the first with a small smirk on her lips as the second seemed a feather's weight from passing out right in the middle of the Barnyard Bargains.
“Have a good weekend, you two. I'll see you on Monday.”
“Have a good weekend, Mr. Daydream.” Silver Spoon watched as Daydream gave her a smile and a nod before exiting the store, her silver gray cheeks bright pink as she began formulating what she would be writing in her journal about her amazing day.
Brass Blair, who had stopped at the end of the aisle and watched the performance chuckled to himself, while Bulging Biceps was quivering in anticipation throughout the entire scene and was starting to tear up as he watched Daydream make his way out.
Daydream took a deep breath as the door to Rich's Barnyard Bargains closed behind him and after a moment he let it go, clearing his thoughts of cute little fillies and friendly enough fellow workers. Now he had to keep focused and see if he could make it home...
Looking from side to side, Daydream started imagining where she would be coming from. It was Friday, school had just let out and Sugar Cube Corner would be receiving their weekly delivery of basic ingredients within the hour.
Daydream started walking to the right, nodding and smiling to Bon Bon as she passed with her full trash cart. Her work day would be ending soon as well, taking just a moment to appreciate how clean and well maintained Ponyville was kept. The base camps he had lived while growing up were well regulated, but it just didn't have the level of...”concern” for how everything looked the way Ponyville did. There were orders and regulations to keep things presentable, carried out by privates or out-sourced to civilians around the bases, but just seemed more...”sterile.”
Daydream slipped down an alleyway between Cinnamon Swirl and Cipher Splash's houses, ducking beneath a laundry line as he remembered he had immediately turned left last time he had gone this way and decided on going right as he reached the next sidewalk. Quickly crossing the road, he smiled to Holly Dash as she rushed by to somewhere or other, as she usually did. Her colorful mane and tail flipping behind her.
“Okay, almost there...”
Daydream's voice trailed as he zipped through another alleyway, also meticulously devoid of trash, and stood just across the street from his house.
It was an impressive affair, not only one of the physically largest houses in the town, but also one of Ponyville's first structures. Granted it was a storage silo for decades before it was renovated into the house it was today. The circular shape made it one of the more unique buildings just outside of the middle of town, while the thickly thatched roof three stories from the street gave it an interesting shadow as the sun continued across the sky.
The silo house, as he had first heard it mentioned when he moved to Ponyville almost exactly four years ago, had been owned by several ponies since the renovation before sitting abandoned for years. It was part of his original employment package, just like his job at Rich's Barnyard Bargains and a generous, bi-monthly allowance, though every day he returned to it he just felt a little more depressed.
Sweeping his eyes from one side to the other, he crossed the street with a quick trot and passed through the doorway as fast as the opening door allowed. Daydream noticed he was holding his breath and slowly released the trapped air as his nerves slowly calmed. He looked to the simple, if elegant front room and felt a heavy sigh leave his lips.
“Home sweet home...”
Straightening as he collected himself, Daydream stepped into the front room and looked from the “island” of comfortable chairs, coffee table, sofa and end tables in the middle of the room to the bookcases that lined the walls. Between the shelves of books were three suits of royal guard armor, one for each of the three pony tribes. The lightest had a hole in the helmet for a unicorns horn, while the slightly heavier set in the next space between bookcases had special slots along the sides for a pair of pegasus wings to extend. The heaviest set seemed almost fully enclosed and impenetrable by comparison, the earth pony armor.
Their style was decades older then the modern armors worn today, though they were not antique. Daydream had them hoof-crafted not long after he had arrived in town, delivered by a particularly endearing mailmare one piece at a time as they were completed in Canterlot by a blacksmith and armorer named Iron Spark. Behind them were the usual compliment of weapons each suit normally possessed. A short sword and light shield for the unicorn officers. A pole arm and short sword for the winged cavalry. A pole arm, short sword and heavy shield for the ground forces.
Daydream stepped over and looked over the heaviest of the suits as he thought what his great grandpony Rough Rock would have looked like during his patrols along Equestria's borders. Armed and armored to defend the ponies of Her kingdom from any threat.
His family on both of his parents sides had served in the Royal Guard for generations. These suits of armor would have been almost daily wear, not simply decorations for their decedent's overly fancy storage silo home.
“I understand what the Royal Guard means to you and your family, and there is no shame if you wish to serve Equestria there.”
Her words came to mind as clearly as the night She said them. Daydream's shuttering breath seemed to echo through the large, lonely room around him.
“But I will be protecting ponies, won't I, your Highness?”
Even the memory of his voice sounded so young and needy. He had been little more then an overwhelmed colt looking so hard for a place. For a purpose.
“You will, Daydream. Ponies only you will be able to reach.”
Daydream blinked back the threatening moisture and turned away from the suit. He had started collecting them on a whim a few months after arriving in town. Monuments to a life, a purpose, he had not chosen. Taking the measurements on himself and sending them to Canterlot. Puzzling together each part. The suits had been an expensive distraction at first. Something he could focus on late at night when he didn't trust himself to sleep. Though as the armor started to come together they were simply reduced to a goal he wanted, needed to complete. He couldn't allow them to simply exist unfinished. Useless.
Daydream made his way upstairs, hanging up his saddle bags and then emptying them out in as he always did. The cloak and scarf were hung next to the bags, so they could air out. The right bag holding the book he had finished during lunch, “Herdology: The Culture of Community,” and a currency pouch. A dozen bits clicked noisily on one side of the leather container while four of the five small pockets on the other side still held gleaming gems. A purple 5b, another green 10b and two dark blue 20b each cushioned from each other along the inner sides so they wouldn't chip or scratch.
Lifting out the book, he walked into the second guest-bedroom and placed it back on the bookshelf where he had picked it up three days before. The room had been untouched by anyone other then himself since he had moved in, just like the first guest-bedroom. He has visited his parents twice a year since moving to Ponyville, for a week each during fall and spring. He had made a point of persuading them away from coming down here each time it had came up, and soon they stopped asking.
He wouldn't be able to explain his nice house or fancy furniture to them. A single suit of armor would be months of his pay at Barnyard Bargains, let alone three of them just standing around waiting for him to reach the right mixture of depression and boredom to dismantle, clean and reconstruct.
He had taken a royal vow, regardless of how meaningless it may be now.
Catching his own miserable scowl in the hallway mirror he broke from his usual “shower right after work” mindset and walked back down through the living room and toward the kitchen.
He didn't really have a routine in place for Friday nights. It was the first of only two nights a week he could stay up late without affecting his work, so he tended to do whatever he could to keep his mind off of his friendly, fellow townsponies until exhaustion would drag him to bed by force. Reading, sometimes a little writing, though nothing more then overly optimistic outlines for some time now. Cleaning the house was always good, as dust seemed to magically appear if he didn't dust at least once a week, not that he had much to worry about in the way to visitors.
“Visitors.”
Daydream's voice sounded a little gravelly as he cocked his head to one side and wondered why he had bothered to say it. His only visitors were-
“Cookies.”
A smile suddenly stretched his lips as he remembered the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their yearly visit on behalf of the “Ponyville School Cookie Sale.” Each year right about this time they would knock on his door and ask him to buy boxes of cookies to get money for the schools materials and supplies. He thought back to the last time they had visited, sure it was right around the middle of autumn.
Daydream smiled at the possibilities. The cookie sale became his one shining moment to really do something worthwhile for Ponyville. By his second year in town he would buy half of their entire supply of baked sweetness, making sure to share the sugary wealth by giving Mr. Rich and all the other workers a box of their favorite treat. The rest were used to make “Customer Appreciation Tables” at the store in the mornings before his shift started.
The tables would have plates with each type of cookie on them for everyone that stopped by, which was nearly everypony in town. Mr. Rich loved the idea of treating the customers, while the shopping ponies could sample all the different flavors and then know what they wanted when the school colts and fillies came to their door.
Not the mention that Daydream kept a box of each type for his own enjoyment. It was a perfect storm of goodwill. His once a year moment to recapture a single spark of why he had originally agreed to move here.
Looking up to the ceiling Daydream mouthed a single wish to the Sun and Moon, only asking for a timid knock on the door. He promised to buy every cookie they would make and give them all away...After he ate enough to make himself happy. He was sure that was the way it worked, considering how “she” seemed to eat nothing but sugar and never seemed to miss a happy beat.
The overwhelming combination of purpose and potential sweetness induced joy made him tingle as he wished harder then he ever had before for anything, eyes tightly shut and teeth clenched firmly together.
And...Nothing.
Slowly releasing the tension from his every muscle, Daydream slowly lifted his head and looked from side to side of the edge of the living room as he wondered what exactly he was really trying to do.
“If wishes were cookies...”
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Daydream jolted completely upright, his eyes rolled down and to the right before slowly sweeping to the left as he attempted a “reality check” of the situation.
Someone actually knocked.
He blinked and wondered if he was so screwed up at the moment that he had imagined it. Could he really be that delusional?
Tap. Tap. Tap.
It was true.
He shot toward the door, saliva building in his mouth as he imagined piles of cookies. A bathtub of cookies. A mountain.
The door opened and there, down before his eyes where a trio of adventurous fillies ever-hunting for their cutie marks should have been was a single set of soft pink legs.
Daydream had to stop everything to process the disjunction between what he had wanted to see and what was actually there for almost two complete breaths and three full blinks before the jarring differences began to make a semblance of sense. With a fourth blink his gaze began to rise, noting the darker, cotton-candy pink tail behind his subject. A solid chest and surprisingly graceful neck, also framed by darker pink hair, came into view before he found himself a hoof or so away from being nose-to-nose with Ponyville's Premier Party Pony.
Daydream blinked again as he shook his head slightly, dark brown mane momentarily flipping back and forth.
“No, of course not, Pinkie Pie.”
He quickly answered her question, the look of almost fearful concern on her face standing out from her normally bright, if chaotic demeanor.
“How can I help you?”
Daydream lowered his head in a quick, polite bow as he wondered what brought her here. He usually managed to avoid her on his way back from work, the first “interactive routine” he had ever made. He had managed to track various situations that occurred throughout the work week by day, combined with the occasional quick trip through the surprisingly clean alleyways of Ponyville to keep her overabundance of peppiness from really depressing him.
“Oh...Well...No, wait.”
Pinkie's face went from questioning to strangely focused in a matter of seconds before she straightened up with a strong inhale.
“Before that, can I talk to you about something?”
Daydream watched her shift back her head as she asked, as though she were expecting something she was worried about.
“Of course, Pinkie.”
Daydream looked down slightly, not at all sure where this would go or what she was so worried about speaking to him about. Could she be in trouble?
Before he could follow that particular idea he noticed Pinkie wasn't starting to talk. Looking back up he saw her lean her head toward the open doorway behind him with a questioning expression on her face.
“Oh...Yes!”
Realization suddenly struck that she was waiting to be invited in to speak with him, as warmth crept over his dark gray cheeks at his own apparent social cluelessness.
“Please come inside.”
Daydream stepped back and to the side, sweeping his front leg across in a welcoming gesture.
“Ohhh.”
Pinkie Pie's entire body tensed like a spring before she paused, took a deep breath, then simply stepped across the threshold into his house with slow, deliberate motion that must have seemed like a snails pace compared to her usual bouncing.
“Thank you, Daydream.”
Pinkie made a short but very cute curtsey before continuing all the way into the living room before Daydream closed the door and walked past her.
“Please make yourself at home. Can I get you anything? I have milk, apple juice and soda.”
Daydream knew which one she would choose, though considering he had been headed to the kitchen for a soda himself before the “cookie wish delusion” struck him it didn't seem like he could really blame her for anything.
“Oh, a soda, please.”
Pinkie's voice had returned to its normal, bubbly sound.
“As you wish. I have green apple, yellow pineapple, red strawberry, orange and grape.”
Daydream paused at the end and stared at the racks of bottles again before speaking.
“You would think they would be “orange orange and purple grape,” huh?”
“Oh, you're right. It kind of flows weird at the end, doesn't it.”
Daydream smirked. It had been so long since he actually heard more then a “Hi, Day” or “Hello, Daydream” from her with his sneaking around her every afternoon that he had forgot how fun she was to talk with. He always seemed to get weird ideas and see things a little differently when she was around.
“So, what flavor will it be today?”
“Oh, right. Let's see...”
Daydream could see her seated back on her haunches, one hoof under her under her chin as she thought through her choices in his mind. “The Thinker”...Or perhaps “The Pinker.” He grinned at the image.
“Which one do you like?”
“Oh, the green apple is my favorite.”
“Okay, I'll have a...Grape?”
The pitch of Pinkie's voice turned the answer into a question at the end, causing Daydream's face to immediately lower as his eyes squinted in concentration.
“You don't have to choose the one I like the least, Pinkie. I have way more soda then any healthy pony should in here.”
Daydream suddenly felt strangely annoyed. He would be the first to admit he wasn't a great host, even without the scene on the doorway only a minute or so ago, and yet. He shook his head.
“Would you like a green apple soda, Pinkie?”
“That sounds great, thanks Day.”
Pinkie's voice went back to bubbly, though as random as she always seemed to be this was an entirely different kind of weird. Maybe that strange town of “equal-marked” ponies really had left a mark on her.
Daydream returned to the living room with the bottles of sour, green sugar water between his right front leg and chest only to immediately stop and look down to the containers.
“Umm. I didn't have any sodas in the fridge.” He felt is already abysmal “host rating” taking another hit. “I think I have some ice in cubes...Maybe.” He was more and more sure he didn't as he thought about it, though it seemed like something that should have been said regardless.
“Oh, that's alright. They taste better warm anyway.”
If there was ever a time Day had wanted to have Pinkie's randomness play into his favor this had to have been it. He didn't particularly care if sodas were warm or cold, though he didn't like ice since he rarely drank anything quickly enough to keep it from watering down.
“Oh, really?”
Day considered her response, then threw in his two bits.
“I suppose any evaporating water would help concentrate the flavor.”
Score strange thought number two for Pinkie, Day smirked toward the floor before turning toward her and extending one of the bottles to her.
“Thank you, Day.”
She sure had thanked him a lot, Daydream began to think about the last couple minutes and what this was leading to. Muscle memory sat him back on his haunches as his left hoof caught the ridges of the bottle cap on a perfectly shaped groove for cap removal and popped the metal lip from the glass container with almost no effort.
“Wow.”
Pinkie's commentary yanked Daydream from his thoughts immediately before he looked down to his uncapped soda bottle and over toward his guest and her still covered drink.
“You've got a pretty good technique there.”
“Oh, wow. I'm sorry, Pinkie.”
Daydream fell into a near full-panic mode.
“I know I've got a bottle opener.”
He was already backing toward the kitchen as he struggled to remember where the most likely never used utensil must have been tossed when he first put the dishes into his kitchen. Knife drawer? With the measuring cups that he hasn't used a dozen times yet? Probably not with the dish cloths.
“Oh, don't worry. I've got this.”
Pinkie Pie held the bottle out at her near full, forelegs reach and then circled her left hoof over the cap a couple times. She then lowered her hoof flat over the metal seal before twisting her hoof with a quick snap of the ankle.
The cap flipped up into the air at least a half dozen hooves over her head before coming down squarely between her ears.
“Tah Dah!”
Pinkie immediately bow, the ridges of the cap making no motion to release the cap from the top of her head.
Daydream began to smirk, then his lips rose up into a full smile as he began to laugh.
“That...Was...Amazing!”
Gasping between laughs, not even exactly sure what about that strange spectacle was so overwhelmingly entertaining, and yet he took at least a full minute to contain himself.
“Oh. Oh. Did the bottle cap land rough side down. I'm supposed to look like a Pinkie shaped bottle of Pinkie soda.”
She made sure to bow again, though Daydream had already noticed it had.
“Did you really have to plan that part at well? That's incredible...”
He couldn't even think of a way to finish the compliment. Even at a fifty-fifty chance, that would still be some impressive odds to have it work when you had an audience.
“It did. Be sure to uncap yourself responsibly.”
Pinkie saw his smile and smiled back even brighter.
Noticing her smiling stare, Daydream felt his face warm and he looked down toward the bottom shelf of the nearest bookcase. The nice, consistent sized books were an encyclopedia set he found that had the right colored covers to match the living room furniture. At least according to the book he had read, when he realized he needed a décor to match the suits of armor, so he didn't look like some kind of weirdo with suits of armors and weapons for no reason.
He also realized he couldn't remember so much as opening any of their covers.
A deep breath or two later Daydream took a drink of soda, the warm, bubbly tartness causing him to raise his shoulders as his mouth puckered.
She was probably right about the “more flavor” thing.
Looking back toward his guest, Pinkie took what had to have been the slowest, smallest sip he had ever seen. This was especially weird considering he had watched her down an entire bottle of soda in a swallow at his “Welcome to Ponyville” party.
She then politely lowered the bottle and started to place it on the table, before suddenly catching herself.
“Oh, can't forget these.”
A pair of pink, cupcake shaped coasters appeared in her other hoof and she placed one down on the coffee table next to herself and another at the edge closest to Daydream.
Daydream stared at the coaster, perfectly detailed from the sprinkles on the frosting to the ridges of the cupcake paper before slowly lowering his own bottle onto it.
“So...”
Daydream began to speak, remembering she had wanted to talk about something when this had started.
“Well...Day. You know tomorrow is the fourth anniversary of you arriving here in Ponyville.”
Pinkie's voice was back to being more somber, if a little fearful, like she had been when he first met her at the door.
“And...And I thought.”
Pinkie took a deep breath.
“I thought maybe since you didn't have to get up so early for work tomorrow, since you have the day off, that maybe you could come to a party we are having tonight.”
Daydream's expression fell before he had even realized what Pinkie was asking, his sigh strangely loud in the sudden silence.
“Pinkie.”
Her bright blue eyes went wide. She was a rabbit trembling at the edge of a clearing, prepared to sprint away at any moment. Only her eyes were gleaming so much more then usual, causing Daydream routine “I just don't think I can” excuse to catch in his throat.
Was she...?
Daydream had no clue what was wrong, though something was so different from all those times before she had tried to invite him to something after...His situation had changed.
Was she...upset?
“Daydream...”
Pinkie's voice quivered and Daydream felt his chest lurch.
“I...I know you have been focusing on your job.”
Pinkie Pie drew a shuddering breath, her bouncy pink mane dropping down the back of her head and neck almost as though it was...Weakening?
“And you do a really, really, really great job at it, too.”
A tear tumbled down her soft, pink cheek and suddenly everything became wobbly as Daydream's eyes began to water.
“Mr. Rich is always saying how you are his best employee. You make sure every bit is counted every day before you leave.”
A large, gleaming tear tumbled from her other eye and Daydream felt his chest starting to seize up. He couldn't seem to get any air into his lungs as his eyes began filling.
“And I know everyone will really want to see you there, like you were when you first came to town.”
Pinkie's eyes blinked and streams of sparkling emotion rained from her eyes.
“I remember when you used to tell stories about Prince Kyrin to the school colts and fillies. And helping everypony all the time. You would...Laugh and joke and talk with everypony and it was so much fun. You would smile and it was so bright and caring.”
Pinkie broke into a bawl for several shaky breathes as he felt the first tears start to tumble down.
“And...And...I'm sorry. I'm so sorry...”
Pinkie was trembling, her forelegs down over her stomach as she seemed to shrink down into her self.
“Sorry? Why?”
Daydream couldn't even recognize his own voice as he croaked out his question. What could she have ever done that would need an apology?
“Be...Because. I...I know I was annoying you when you first stopped coming to all the parties and playing with all of us after work.”
Pinkie Pie took a shaky breath before continuing.
“But you looked so sad. Even when you smiled to the ponies you saw, it looked like something you...You had to do. It was so lonely and sad that I had to try and help.”
“I wanted to help but I didn't know what to do. So I just thought if I asked you the right way you would come back and we could all have fun again.”
Something in his thoughts was rumbling as Daydream started to pant softly through his mouth when his nose began to stuff up. He didn't know what it was, but it would be something terrible and even knowing now wouldn't stop it from coming.
“But I couldn't think of the right way to ask, so...So I stopped.”
Pinkie broke into crying again and it was everything Daydream could do not to simply join her.
She was blaming herself for his actions.
“I...I was happy we could still play sometimes.”
Her sad smile somehow made her tear streaked face even sadder.
“I looked forward to playing hide-and-seek with you after work. You're a really good hider.”
The rumbling in Day's head suddenly exploded as the cold, blinding light of realization washed out every other thought in his head.
“Remember that time two summers ago when I got you three times in one week.”
Pinkie's quivering attempt to chuckle shattered Daydream's heart.
The “interactive routine” wouldn't look like avoiding places Pinkie Pie could show up. It had looked like he had been avoiding Pinkie Pie.
The ridiculousness that he hadn't seen that as the most obvious answer of what he was doing was galling in a way he could not even completely comprehend. He had been avoiding someone that wanted to make him feel better, that saw that he was hurt even when he tried so hard to keep from letting anyone else know.
He had always made sure to keep smiling and acknowledging the ponies around him, even if he couldn't be as open with them as he wanted to be. He liked smiling to them and showing that he noticed them, because it meant for that single moment they were doing the same to him.
And yet, not only had she known, but she went out of her way daily to try help and he hid from her.
“If...If you want...”
Pinkie's sad, quivering voice drew him from even the darkest thoughts immediately.
“I...I can make sure not to bother you-”
“No!”
He hadn't even realized he was going to speak, but suddenly his voice boomed through the open, usually lonely room.
“Pinkie Pie...I am so sorry.”
Daydream felt a release of feelings he didn't even know he had been keeping within himself.
“I wasn't annoyed or angry or anything like that.”
He paused to draw a shuddering breath of his own.
“You are the warmest, friendliest, nicest pony in Equestria. You were the first pony to actually talk to me when I came off the train. You showed me where Mr. Rich's store was, and then you had a party for me at Sugar Cube Corner just because I had arrived.”
With every admission there was a weight that lifted from his mind.
“You're fun and clever and interesting.”
“I'm so, so sorry I had hurt your feelings. I never meant-”
Suddenly the warm sensation of a winter comforter was wrapped around him, safe and shielded from every bad thing in the entire world. Pinkie squeezed around his chest and even amidst all the tingling energy he could feel the tears that fell on his shoulder.
“It's alright.”
The happy wobble was back in her voice as the sadness started to dissipate.
“I know you wouldn't have meant it.”
We hugged for a long time. It was strange how natural it felt, despite how rarely he could remember it happening anymore. At the start and end of each trip to see his parents, when his little brother and his family would show up.
He finally, regretfully pulled back, shame looming over his thoughts as he made eye contact with her and saw all the tears he had caused.
Pinkie Pie's smile, however, glowed like the sun.
“So...You said there was a party tonight?”
“Uh-huh.”
Pinkie nodded, her hair bouncing up and down like it always had.