Kradoooo. Thunder rolled across the sky above the hunched form of Steady Wage. He let out a sob as he watched as raindrops fell onto the cold metal beneath him. Each falling sorrow a mirror of his own. When was the last time he had cried like this? He couldn’t remember. He didn’t care. Rubbing a hoof over his face, he attempted to clear his eyes, but the heavy liquid just came back. Nopony approached him as he sat on his bench. He watched them give quizzical glances and continue on their ways, soon to forget the crying stallion. Steady didn’t mind, who could blame them? Their lives were probably way better and more important than his. Steady Wage, ha! I couldn’t hold a job washing dishes. Steady’s head dipped lower, raising a hoof only to brush his wet mane out of his eyes halfheartedly.
“Hey!”
Steady Wage looked up into a pair of tawny eyes accusing at him from beneath a white umbrella. Before he could gather his thoughts, the eyes continued,
“I don’t recall giving you permission to be sad in my favorite park.”
Steady blinked at the eyes uncomprehendingly. He opened his mouth, then shut it again. All thoughts left him as he tried to wrap his mind around this new input. The eyes approached him, until they were close enough that a nose touched his own. Glancing down, he realized that there was a face, a head, and a whole mare attached to those eyes. His gaze snapped back to the eyes as the mare spoke.
“Are you going to stop being sad, or am I going to have to make you?”
Finally, his thoughts crashed together and he managed a damp,
“No.”
The mare’s eyes narrowed and she grabbed him by the nose.
“Alright then, you’re coming with me.”
And just like that, she yanked him off of the bench, under the cover of her umbrella, and down along the path. Steady attempted to extricate himself, but found her grip surprisingly strong and finally gave a defeated sigh and walked alongside the white mare. Feeling his resistance end, she released her grip and turned her head towards him.
“There, now why don’t you tell me why you were crying?”
Pouting slightly, Steady looked away from her and said,
“Well if you must know, I just lost my job.”
“Is that all?”
Steady jerked his head towards her and shot out,
“Isn’t that enough?”
“To be crying, maybe. To be crying alone in the rain on a park bench, not so much.”
Steady stamped his foot, and stopped walking.
“Fine! I lost my job, my rent is late, I haven’t had a date in two years, I’ve got a stupidly ironic name, I haven’t eaten lunch, and my umbrella broke last week!”
The mare pursed her lips, then turned and thrust her hoof into her saddlebags. After a minute she gave a triumphant shout and proffered a large apple.
“Eat.”
Steady took the apple with some trepidation and began to chew as the mare dove back into her saddlebags once more.
“I don’t know you well enough for a date, but I can call you Green Crying Guy if you would like.”
“That’s...fine, really.”
“Too late! Your name is now Weeping Willow!”
At this declaration, the mare pulled out a small umbrella and placed it on Steady’s head.
“This is yours now! Now half of your problems are solved!”
Steady Wage took the umbrella off of his head and tried to give it back to the mare.
“Look, I appreciate this, but I’m not going to take your umbrella.”
The mare ignored his outstretched hoof and started walking again.
“It’s not my umbrella anymore, it’s yours.”
Steady hung the umbrella around his neck and ran after her.
“Listen, I didn’t ask you to-”
“You didn’t need to. I wanted to help you, so I am.”
Steady searched for some retort, but couldn’t find one. They continued to walk on in a silence broken only by the pattering of the rain. A couple of times, Steady Wage tried to start a conversation, only for the words to die in his mouth. The white mare seemed to be deep in thought and he contented himself to observing the quiet streets. This section of the city was much older and made almost entirely from brick. A far cry from the cold concrete and steel of his own neighborhood. The buildings here actually looked as if they had ponies in them, not just suits and mild discomfort. His attention dropped to the cobblestones beneath his hooves. The worn street looked as if it had not been serviced in years, but it looked to be as clean as the day it was made. Despite the lack of open land, he was still able to spot more than a dozen different flowers along the street. It seemed like every window had an old bowl, pot, or other container with a plant of some sort resting outside.
“What I wouldn’t give to live here.”
Steady said it without thinking, but the mare beside him gave out a shriek.
“I’ve got it!”
She stopped dead in her tracks and pointed a triumphant hoof at him.
“You’re going to be my butler!”
Steady stared at her, every inch of his body communicating that had she spontaneously became an alicorn and proclaimed herself queen of Equestria, he would have been less surprised. Her smile did not fade as she nodded to herself.
“It’s the perfect solution! You get a job and don’t have to worry about rent, and I get someone to do chores for me all day. It’s a win-win!”
Steady Wage put a hoof on the mare’s forehead and gave her a concerned look.
“Are you ok? Did the rain get to you?”
She glared at him and brushed his hoof off.
“Oh come on! it totally works! You’d look so handsome in a blazer.”
“Be that as it may, I’m just some guy you picked up off of the street. How do you know I’m not a murder or a druggie?”
“Well, if you were a murderer, you would have killed me already in one of these alleys we’ve passed that has no windows and is off of a deserted street. And you certainly don’t look or smell like a druggie so I figure I’m cool.”
“But you don’t know anything about me!”
“I know that you were sad, your name is Weeping Willow, you’d look handsome in a blazer, and you’ve got a stick up your butt.”
“I do not! And my name is not Weeping Willow!”
“What’s that Willow? I couldn’t hear you because a whiny pony was talking.”
“Hey!”
The mare stuck out her tongue and started walking once more. Steady Wage galloped up beside her and asked,
“Are you actually serious about this?”
“Of course. I’m a very serious mare.”
“Somehow, I doubt that.”
“What was that?”
“Oh, nothing.
“In that case, your duties will start now!”
“Hey, I never accepted!”
“Too late.”
The mare handed Steady her bag and umbrella. And kept walking
“You are to cook, clean, and tend to my every whim, in exchange, I will provide you with food, a house, wonderful company, and 10 bits a week.”
“That’s not a lot...”
“I can make it 9.”
“I’ll be good.”
Before he could think, the mare spun around, grabbed him by the hoof and started running.
“This is going to be awesome!”
Ten seconds later, the mare stopped abruptly and pointed to a small shop with a dusty window and a sign reading “The Porcelain Bunny”
“My Mansion!”
Taking care to cover the mare with the umbrella, Steady chewed over the sight.
“It’s an...antique shop?”
The mare gave a bow and recited,
“Prices, Paintings, and Pinecones, we’ve got them all at The Porcelain Bunny store for Antiques and Oddities. My name is Dust Cloud and I am happy to meet you.”
Steady Wage gave Dust a long look, then gave the same to the store. He watched droplets of water from the passing storm drop onto the doorstep. Plink. Plink. Plink. Plink.
Finally, he turned back to the tawny eyes before him. Sighing, he smiled and said,
“Ok. You win.”
Author's Note
Just a little thing inspired by the sing Feather's new song, City Slicker. As usual, no real editing was done, so feel free to point out errors.