Chapters "Mayor Mare, I need your signature for these papers. They're for the 'HeavyHoof release'."
"Mayor Mare, the apple family needs your permission for that extra day of clear skies to grow their crops!"
"Mayor Mare, have you finished those tax returns yet?"
"Mayor Mare?"
"Mayor Mare!"
Papers flew from hoof to hoof, place to place, and table to table in what seemed like a hurricane of scribbled black and white, joined by a few manila folders as they entered the fray, alongside the occasional pen that flew across the room and into a nearby trashcan, having outlived its usefulness.
In the middle of this tempest of paperwork and flying writing implements however, was the very mare of subject, Mayor Mare. Among the blacks and whites of the typhoon, a mare of tan fur and a silvery gray mane and tail sat upon her figurative throne–Her office chair–, her vibrant blue eyes darting from paper to paper, magnified by her round and small pieces of eyewear, which laid themselves precariously atop the edge of her muzzle; Short from falling, but secure enough to keep from doing so.
Her neat white collar and lavish green cravat seemed to stand her out from the group of chaos causing workers with great professionalism, only amplified by the wrapped scroll that appeared on both of her flanks.
Just another day, she thought to herself, as yet another paper was read through and signed off for the appropriate worker and sect of the large office building she worked in; No, that she practically lived in, day in and day out.
She would often hear her employees, and even some other ponies, say that she was an 'incredible worker'. They ask one another how she wouldn't tire out after all the years she's spent in her position, working her hooves to the bone to keep everything under control, all while barely breaking a sweat. How she was practically unbreakable when it came to her work ethic.
"Oh, if they knew just how wrong they were. " She mused to herself with a pitiful mental chuckle.
Sure, on the outside, she seemed to be completely and utterly placid, and at ease. On the inside however, she was a jumbled mess. A chipped and worn husk of her former, younger self.
The years really did wear on her, despite what everypony else had often said. To this day, she ends up working herself so hard that she can barely move from her bed in the morning–Assuming she makes it home , rather than just pass out from her exhaustion– from the aches and pains that plague her overworked joints.
She had considered a vacation several times over whenever she found herself in such a state, but each time, she would end up telling herself one simple thing, utterly discouraging herself from doing so. "If I'm not here to do all of this, then who will ?"
It wasn't that other ponies weren't qualified for the job, she thought, but she would never want to put them through what she goes through almost everyday.
In fact, the closest that she had gotten to sharing this experience of hers with anypony else was a job listing that she had posted some time ago, seeking out aid in her office from an assistant. As it had turned out though, ponies knew just enough as to what Mayor Mare's job entailed to for the job to have been left unfilled for practically two years after she had first put it up...
At least, until recently.
She still found a sense of mild shock within her whenever she thought back to the day, no longer than a week and a half ago, that she had received a letter addressed to her, and not being in need of being signed or read over for once; How she had actually dropped her quill from surprise when she tore open the letter and found that it was a job application , of all things!
Even more so when she read it over, finding that a human had been the applicant.
Now, normally, humans tended to stay away from small places like Ponyville, and the like. They usually gravitated towards the more open and urban cities in Equestria, like Fillydelphia, Manehatten, or, at most, Seaddle. They preferred the busier and bigger streets of the cities over the cozy and dirt roads of the towns.
Though she didn't understand his reasoning for actually wanting to leave his own urban life in Las Pegasus, and move to a more 'rustic' and 'small' town like Ponyville, she certainly couldn't complain. Especially when she looked over his résumé.
"Over 5 years of work at the Las Pegasus political scene, former head chair of the office, and even a self-achieved political renown with the princesses themselves ?!" If she hadn't already dropped her quill from just receiving the application, she certainly would have done so now.
Again, she internally questioned his reasonings for wanting to leave behind such a well-reputational life, but in the end, she couldn't have scrambled for that fallen quill any faster after her initial, and secondary, shock. Before she knew it, she had found her writing implement, written a reply, and sent out an employee to deliver the letter to the post office at a speed that would make even Rainbow Dash as green as her neckwear with envy.
His own reply had come only a few days afterwards, much to her silent relief, expressing his thankfulness–Though she felt it was her who needed to be grateful–for her having accepted his job request, and informing her that he would be arriving in Ponyville come the next week.
It had been six days since then. Six long, seemingly endless days, and things were resuming as they usually would in the office.
"Mayor Mare, there's another letter to you from the Cakes, regarding their yearly deposits."
"Mayor Mare, Miss Cherilee has requested that you send somepony over to speak to her class about the importance of their studies."
Just another day, Mayor Mare mentally repeated to herself in a sort of mantra, her hooves beginning to cramp once more as she signed what must have been her fiftieth paper this past hour.
"A day that can't seem to know when to finish. "
Author's Note
Seriously, there is not enough love for these two!
... Or at least the mayor.
But, yeah, that's why I'm making this. ^~^
I've always felt that these two characters are often underrated, like a few certain others(Gilda, Zecora, so on), and I wanted to change that little fact. :)
So, without further ado, 'The assistant'!
Was it wrong of her to say that she needed a vacation?
At this point, even she wasn't sure anymore.
The thought wasn't really relevant to that of any other she had created, but as she sat down Diamond Tiara in the 'time out' corner–which might as well have been her second home in this class–she couldn't help but to have it just pop up.
"Harrasing the other students again", Cherilee thought to herself exasperatedly, seating herself back behind her desk, her dual-toned pink mane bouncing slightly against her cerise coat as she then began rubbing the side of her head with a hoof. She had had a particularly stressful day today, and the building migraine proved it.
As she looked up to the rest of her class, momentarily closing both of her deep green eyes and taking a deep breath, she put on her signature 'teacher-to-student' smile and went on with the rest of her lesson.
"Now, if we could please get back on track..."; that was the line that always started her back up; the line that, after years of having committed herself to her work as an educator, had become tiresome and cycled. It had come to a point where it was almost involuntary for her to say it, at this point.
That is to say, it was not that she did not enjoy teaching. Quite the opposite. She, in fact, rather enjoyed watching young minds blossom as they learned new things. That was the reasoning behind her cutie mark, after all.
What she didn't enjoy, however, was the constant work and responsibility that this entailed.
If it was not ensuring that the fillies and colts would not hurt themselves, or one another, in any way, it was the stream of paperwork and grading that she was responsible for afterwards. Let alone the near constant board meetings, and the occasions in which she would need to deal with the parents of the foals on the scant event of which they would actually check their foal's grades, and only then notice how they were doing–as of recent though, this had become quite common, as it usually would be like near the end of the grading period.
As if she was the one at fault for how her students decided wether to, or not to, do their homework, or study for their tests. Were it not for the fact that she was currently in the classroom, in fact, she would have rolled her eyes at the recollection of all the times this had occurred.
She would never voice these complaints, of course. She would never do anything that would put her job at risk. She still enjoyed it, despite the stress and flaws that it brought with it, and it paid the bills with ease.
As she continued her lecture on the history of interaction between humans and ponies–a topic which she herself very much enjoyed, going so far as to highlight and underline it several times over in her lesson plan–she noticed out of the corner of her eye that one of her students, a small pegasus filly named Scootaloo, was busying herself on her notebook; only, rather than notes, she was adding a few doodles to her viable 'gallery' of inattentiveness.
Cherilee mentally smirked as she continued her lesson without missing a beat, acting as if she had not noticed this sight. She knew how to deal with this situation very well. It wasn't the first time she had needed to, after all.
"... Leading to the Meeting of Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and the human... Anypony?" She paused, looking away from her chalkboard and towards her class, seeking out an answer that she already knew.
A uniquely combined sense of pride and amusement welled in her as she saw several of her students shoot their hooves up at once, the initial 'me first's or 'pick me's droning out after the first few seconds; Scootaloo was not among these hooves, still distracted with her doodling. Giving a silent chuckle as she began to calmly walk around the room, strolling in between the neatly aligned desks of her students with a hoof on her chin as she sought out who could possibly answer her question. From the moment she had asked the question though, she knew well and good who would be the one she would 'randomly' select.
"... Scootaloo..." she said with a smirk as she halted her walk a small distance away from the orange pegasus's desk, taking note of how she quickly closed her off-topic notebook and looked to her with an 'innocent' expression. She also, though with less focus, heard the sound of disappointed students as they put their hooves down and began to grumble.
Don't worry, she thought, aiming her mental conversation towards the rest of her class; you'll all have your chances.
Clearing her throat, she turned her head to look towards her current subject of attention, this time with a neutral expression. "Would you mind answering the question?"
For a short moment, she could almost see a bead of sweat go down the side of her head as she gave a broad smile and a nervous chuckle. "Um... Sure, Ms. Cherilee..." She paused, pursing her lips before then giving her the same nervous smile as before. "Uh, which question was that again?"
Much of the class held back a laugh at this, to Scootaloo's apparent embarrassment.
"The human that met with the princesses regarding the interaction between one another... Don't you remember? It should be in your notes." As she had expected, Scootaloo widened her eyes at the mention of her 'notes'. Despite this, Cherilee retained her relatively blank expression.
"Oh, heh, right...! Notes..." Cherilee raised a knowing brow in her direction.
"You did take notes, didn't you?" A smirk fought against her to show itself as she sprung her trap, watching as everything went as she predicted it would.
First, the momentary stutter. "O-of course I did." Followed shortly after by another nervous laugh. Next, it would be her part to play.
"Oh? Would you mind reading some of them out loud then?" And from there, it would be history... Quite literally too, in this regard.
"Well- Um, you see... Heh." Another overly broad smile from Scootaloo brought about all that Cherilee, and the other students, needed to know in order to guess that she had pretty much done nothing in regards to her notes. This was also all that was needed to bring about a short laugh from the class.
Now finally allowing a smug grin on her face as she began to head to her desk again, she left Scootaloo to continue on her own, faintly noticing her as she opened her notebook again and began to furiously scribble whatever she could see on the board and from her neighboring students, a light tint of red on her face.
Cherilee had learned how to do this sort of thing with a practiced and perfected grace over the years, really. That is to say, it wasn't that she enjoyed embarrassing her students, but she still needed to keep them on track as best as she could; If anything, a little embarrassment was a meager price for this, in Scootaloo's case.
"Now, if we could please get back on track..."
And there it is again, Cherilee mused with a short mental giggle.
"We-" Before she could go any further on, the sound of the school bell ringing cut her off, attracting a sigh from the entirety of her class and, to an extent, from her.
Students began to stand themselves from their desks and rush out of the classroom door as of their lives depended on it, their voices all sounding out and jumbling together into a loud mess that practically overflowed through the even smallest nooks and crannies of the class.
Cherilee had to reach an even higher level of sound just to adress them. "Remember to study the trading systems of humans and ponies for the quiz next week!" She shouted, a part of her not even sure if they had heard her, or if they had simply chosen to tone her out.
Within a few short and chaotic moments, the class was void of other ponies; save for Cherilee, who simply gave a sigh of relief and exhaustion.
Reaching for one of her desk cabinets, she pulled the small containing area open, immediately being met by a large stack of disorganized and messily written papers. With practiced monotony, she reached into the cabinet and began to stack the papers onto her desk, neatening them as best as she could, before then opening another equally filled cabinet and doing the same.
Now came the more tedious part of her day. The paperwork; the grading; the parental responses; all of them due by the end of her work day. Administration was, after all, very strict in that regard.
Readying a quill and some ink, Cherilee glanced out of one of the nearby windows to the class, taking notice of the sun that was raised high into the air, signaling that it was somewhere around midday.
The worst part about this was that those were only her morning classes. Soon, her afternoon class would come in through the same classroom door, and she'd have to do this all over again for a second time.
Even then, she'd likely be working well into the night because of the further given upon paperwork that would be stacked on her desk.
The only thing she could really look forward to, at the moment, was the fact that it was the weekend tomorrow. Students weren't the only ones who looked forward to the end of the week, after all.
Author's Note
And character number two's point of view everyone!
... God I wish I knew what to say for these things.
Anyways, until I figure out who can help with a more viable cover, I'll be using the one that I had made, as you may see. It's not great, but it will do.
Hope you like the chapter. :D
Cramping fetlocks, a splitting migraine, aching eyes and a sore... Everything. That was what greeted the end of a workday for Mayor Mare; alongside the darkened outside of Princess Luna's night, having been raised over two hours ago by now.
Her hoof could find no other place to rest but the crook of her neck as she attempted to work out some of the tension that she had built up in her work, knowing well and good that her desk had already been covered with several layers of filled out and carefully organized piles of paperwork; alphabetized and numerically assigned by time in which they had been received, just as it should be.
In all honesty, Mayor Mare couldn't help but to feel this discomfort as necessary. "Otherwise, I wouldn't know if I was still awake or not."
Allowing a chuckle to escape her at the mental joke, which practically echoed through the long emptied out offices and paths of town hall, she pushed herself out of her seat with a groan.
To her, it felt as though every part of her body creaked and groaned as she placed her hooves on the floor, moving her head side to side before desperately stretching herself out to relieve at least a small amount of her soreness.
Once that was done, the elected official gave out a small yawn as she then glanced around the office for a familiar set of... "Ah, there we are!" She thought to herself grandly as she caught sight of the building keys, laid haphazardly atop a small cabinet she had near one of the room's adjacent walls, right next to her saddlebags; just where she had left them, as she does everyday.
The keys jingled against one another as she took one last glance around the office and put on her saddle bags, ensuring that there wasn't anything she may have forgotten.
As her mental checklist was soon finished, a deep exhale through her nose expressing her relief as she realized nothing to be missing or out of place, she then made her way out of the room.
With 'practiced grace'–which was not so much something that she wished to practice, so much as se was forced to in order to adapt– she moved the light switch of the room into the 'off' position with a quick flick of her tail, enveloping her in darkness and essentially blinding her.
Oh, right, she thought with a roll of her eyes; my office was the only one with its lights still on.
Brushing the matter aside, after a quick review of her mental checklist of course, Mayor Mare began to make her way through pitch black building, only sometimes broken by the occasional window as her legs, already well aware of where they would need to take her, followed an automatic path.
Left, left, right, left.
Sure enough, the calm light of the night sky began to leak meekly into the building through a different source; the cracks and underside of the front entrance to the town hall.
Readjusting the keys in her maw again, faintly tasting their metal as she did so, she grabbed hold of and pushed open the door.
For what must have been the first time since her workday had begun, she was able to breathe in a breath of fresh air; Cool and crisp from the late hour. Momentarily allowing herself to enjoy the cool breeze on her aching self, Mayor Mare took in a deep breath, closing her eyes for a second or so before then shortly opening them again, releasing her recently captured cloud of clean night air.
Shaking her head yet again, so as to make sure she wouldn't get too relaxed and fall asleep where she currently was, she sat herself on her haunches, turned back towards the door, and removed the keys from her maw using her hooves.
Mumbling to herself, she squinted her eyes as she looked for the appropriate key, her glasses providing little to no assistance to her in the dark setting that surrounded her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She, as well, felt as though she could fall over where she was and simply go to sleep, Cherilee's legs complaining against her with every step that she took, and her hooves practically screaming out to her.
Rubbing at her continually tiring eyes, the school teacher gave out a yawn as she went on her way down the roads of Ponyville, the closest thing to other sources of life–by which she meant as ponies that were still awake at this hour–being a single building with its second floor lights on.
"Then again... That's Sugarcube Corner." In all honesty, if Cherilee didn't see that the local town party pony, PinkiePie, was awake, then she'd think that something strange was happening.
Putting her attention away from the sweet shop and back ahead of her, she took notice of the ever-so-familiar surroundings that she recognized to be the path that led to her home.
As she went on, the temptation of losing consciousness and slipping into the world of dreams becoming more and more tempting, she caught sight of a figure in the distance, silhouetted by the night.
"Hm?"
Scrunching her eyes, she attempted to make out a few of this figure's features in the hopes of identifying him/her. That proved to be much more difficult than she had thought, even as she continued to walk in the same direction of the pony–her home was located just a ways further ahead of where the figure was.
Unable to see any distinguishing features of the far off pony, she instead settled on the idea of looking over her surroundings once more; at least until she came close enough to the pony to identify them.
She was, from what she could see, somewhere near the center of Ponyville. She could distinguish this from the park she could see further off to her left, its open and green fields still managing to make itself known at a time as late as this.
As for the figure, she could see with ease that he/she stood in front of town hall, seemingly busying themselves with the door.
For a moment, Cherilee worried that she was witnessing an attempted robbery, stalling in her steps before she continued onwards; after she closed in even further though, she quickly thought herself to be silly as she finally was able to take notice of the gray and tidy mane of an old friend, who was currently locking up the building for the night.
"Afternoon, Ms. Mayor." She greeted kindly, her target of conversation flinching at the sudden sound and giving out a small yelp of surprise as she dropped her keys onto the floor.
Cherilee barely withheld a giggle as she made her way next to Mayor Mare, picking up the keys from the floor and handing them off to the now smiling town official.
"Oh, haha," she laughed in earnest, disbelieving of the fact that she had been startled so easily, "hello Cherilee." She grabbed hold of her keys from the school teacher and placed them into her saddle bags, offering a thankful smile as she did so. "I take it you just got out of work as well?" She asked knowingly.
Cherilee of course nodded, now well in good spirits at the prospect of meeting with her old companion yet again. "Just finished the last of it a few minutes ago. It's always that last part that gets me though; I nearly fell asleep just on the way here."
A laugh escaped Mayor Mare as she heard what, in essence, was her exact same state and thoughts from Cherilee.
"Heh. Don't I know it." Turning herself around to now face the cerise mare, she adjusted her saddlebags once more before offering her a friendly smile.
"Shall we then?" She asked, gesturing to the path that led to their individual homes. Cherilee smiled in response, already beginning to take the lead as she walked towards the same general direction.
"Whatever you say, 'Madam Mayor'." She joked, the gray furred politician rolling her eyes and chuckling in response; she trailed shortly after Cherilee for a scant few moments before eventually pulling up slightly more ahead of her.
This had been a regular event for the two; meeting up after hours and just chatting on their way to their homes. They did not live very far from one another, after all, and it was a good opportunity for them to 'catch up', as it were, on lost times.
Chuckling heartily, the mayor of Ponyville turned her head to face Cherilee as she went on. "I've told you before Cherilee, you don't have to call me that; especially after hours."
A knowing smile responded to her statements. "I know, but it's always fun to tease you about it." Mayor Mare shook her head at her friend's words, a smile of her own on her face as she recalled this occasion with those of other days.
"So," she then began, trying her own hoof at starting up a conversation topic, "how have things been at work?" From the look that Cherilee gave, she instantly knew the answer.
"Oh, the usual. Late nights, constant work and responsibility... Same as it is for you, I'm guessing?" She nodded, humming slightly at her friends accuracy.
Then again–she thought–its not like we have many free days to talk about this.
Truthfully, were it not for the fact that Cherilee had the weekends off, Mayor Mare would dare to say that her friend was just as overworked as she was; more so in that Cherilee had to be in constant responsibility for so many fillies and colts, rather than Mayor Mare's responsibility over mature mares and stallions.
"Hm. Just about..." Clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth, Mayor Mare suddenly recalled something that had come up during her work day. A certain letter/request that she had yet to answer; the same that had, in fact, been sent to Town Hall by the very friend she was talking to. "Oh, we just got that letter of yours at the office."
Cherilee's ears and eyes were now in full focus of her friend, losing focus on, essentially, every thing else that didn't matter at the moment. "Oh?" In all honesty, Cherilee had been waiting for this news. She, as she had described in her request letter, was in desperate need of a sort of... Role-model for the foals to look up to.
Especially considering the fact that, in the next few weeks, it's going to be the start of 'testing season', as she and other members of the board had nicknamed it. Her students could certainly use the motivation; just as she could, since she was the one who'd be up to her neck in papers to grade and the like.
It was a very bitter-sweet time for her.
"And, upon reviewing it, I'd say it has a very good chance of being accepted, both by me, and the other departments." Cherilee gave out a silent internal cheer at this news. "... However..." And just like that, she quickly ended it.
She very much hated it whenever her friend would add that word in after she ended a sentence; 'however'. It always meant that, if there was good news, there's to be some sort of catch. She couldn't blame her–mayor or otherwise, she had to confer with her other department fields as well–but she certainly could wish she'd be a little more straight forward in that regard.
Pursing her lips, Mayor Mare finished her statement with some hesitance to it. "It... May not be as simple as possible. After all, it's late in spring and, by now, tax season is just around the corner."
Ah, right, tax season.
She had practically forgotten about this little fact. Every year, be it by sheer coincidence, mistimed planning, or simply bad luck, tax season would just so happen to mix with Cherilee's test season. It was an odd, and very irritating, twist of fate in that regard. Her and her friend's busiest times of the years crumpled together to keep them both awake and occupied well into the night–possibly the morning as well.
It was the only 'season' that brought about issues for foals and adults at the same time. The only reason that several ponies dreaded the near end of spring.
"Oh..." She said dejectedly, her ears lowering themselves and posture changing to mirror her disappointment. "So, there's nothing you can do then?"
Noticing her friend's state, Mayor Mare felt a slight frown appear on her lips as she answered. "I'm afraid not. You know how it is with the other departments. 'Work before work'. Honestly, that doesn't even make sense!" Her eyes widening for a moment as she caught her sudden outburst, she cleared her throat before continuing in her more professional tone. "Anyways, when was it you would need somepony to come to your class, again? You didn't specify in the letter."
"Sometime starting next week."
Again, Mayor Mare felt her frown make itself even more apparent as she now tried to hide her expression from Cherilee. Next week would be packed for her and the others, and she knew it. She just didn't have the heart to tell this to her friend though.
"... Hey," Cherilee suddenly added, an ear twitching as she recalled the prominent subject of their last talk,–and the one before that, and the one before that. It had been a rather significant thing over the last week for them, really–"don't you have a new staff member coming in next week?"
Instantly, Mayor Mare's hidden away expression went through a complete 180 of its–now former–self. "Oooh, only two more days until I finally get my new assistant~!"
Despite her political role; her usually professional self; her sought about expectations; Mayor Mare's recognition of the fact had come out in a sort of sing-song tone. It was as if, for that moment, she was a foal in a pet store, watching as her parents picked out the one puppy that she had hoped and pleaded for... Metaphorically, of course.
Cherilee found herself cheering up as well as she caught this short glimpse of her friend acting as she used to, before the beginning of her political life. In fact, she could almost see her originally pink and frilly mane hidden under her friend's now tidy and gray dyed one.
"I can't wait! Finally, I won't have to constantly work until my hooves ache, and I'll have a good half of my work being taken care of. And by somepony–Er, someone who's more than capable!" Mayor Mare practically jittered at the thought of being able to get a healthy eight hours of sleep for once in so long.
"Good thing too. No offense, but I think you can use that break." She said this in good humor, of course, but as she looked at the bags that had long begun to form under her friend's eyes, only hidden away by the occasional touch-up, she knew that she was being brutally honest at the same time.
"Agreed... In fact... Who's to say we both can't have a bit of help?" Cherilee rose a curious brow at this as an idea came to Mayor Mare's mind.
"Hm?"
"Well," Mayor Mare explained, "while we are technically going to be busy down to the last of our staff... We may be able to squeeze in some spare time with our new work member's help."
Before she could react, or have even begun to continue any further, Mayor Mare found herself held in a tight grip by Cherilee's hooves; A broad, excited smile was apparent on the school teacher's face.
"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" She said excitedly, too far in her glee to notice that she had nearly knocked over her friend with the force and suddenness of her embrace.
A laugh escaped Mayor Mare as she gave one of Cherilee's forelegs a duo of light taps, silently asking for her to ease up, or release her. She still wanted to get some rest, after all; and, though she didn't mind the friendly display, the two weren't really making any progress this way.
"Alright, alright," she told Cherilee as she half-pried her off of her, a smile on her face the whole time, "don't forget, this isn't really one-hundred percent just yet. I still have to see how he does, then I'd have to pass the idea by everypony else, and even then I'd have to see if he would be okay with it himse-"
"Honestly, anything's better than nothing." Cherilee interrupted as she then took the lead instead, giving Mayor Mare a grateful smile on her way.
"Hm. I guess I can't argue with you there, now can I?" She knows by experience; When it comes down to it, Cherilee is always able to think of something in a positive note. Even if it's not certain.
"No." Mayor Mare could easily spy the corners of Cherilee's mouth hooking upwards from where she was.
"I thought no- Oh! Here we are." Turning her head to look to her friend as she stopped herself mid-step, she took note that she had no longer been walking as well, now looking towards her left.
Following her gaze, Cherilee very nearly let out a laugh as she caught sight of the quaint and cozy, gray and red home; She couldn't believe that, in their distraction, they had nearly passed completely by one of their stops. It wouldn't be the first time, but it was still rather amusing.
"Heh. Right. Well, I'll see you tomorrow then." As she again turned to her intended direction and began to move on, heading to her own home, she gave one last call to her old companion. "Goodnight Ivory," she wished to her friend loudly, this time using her real name, "thanks again!"
Giving her friend a short wave as she fished through her saddlebags for her house keys, she returned the 'good night' happily, before then turning her attention back to her current actions and mentally preparing herself for a nice sleep.
She got to go to work one hour later tomorrow, so that was something for her to be glad about.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"... And so, in conclusion, while I appreciate that you think of me so highly, I am still very firm on my decision. If at any time you need confirmation of some sort of documentation, or the like, please feel free to send them to me through my new mailing address in Ponyville, as listed below... Hmmm."
Momentarily moving about the quill in his fingers as he finished re-reading the response letter he had written for one of his previous work associates at Las Pegasus, faintly noticing the small bumps that he would feel shake throughout his body from the train he rode on's trek over track, he couldn't help but to wonder if he was missing something.
That was something he certainly didn't want.
In his years of political and economic affairs, he had enough experience to know that, even in a casual response letter such as this one, it was best never to make even the slightest mistake, lest it be taken the wrong way.
One moment, one misplaced word or missing syllable could easily bring about an issue. Why else would this have been the fourth time that he had rewritten this letter, after all? It wasn't as if it took him long to do this.
A few short minutes and a relatively small amount of ink, since he would often stop himself mid-word whenever he found a mistake in his writing. That was all it took.
"Let's see," he mused, a part of him glad that the train car he was in was currently void of anyone , or anypony, else other than him, " 'Dear GoldenHoof, my professional and well-termed associate'... Tah, tah, tah... 'to me through my new mailing address in Ponyville, as listed below'..."
It was then that the man felt his eyes widen, a hearty laugh escaping him as he realized his obvious mistake. "I haven't put in the address yet, have I?" Chuckling as he quickly rectified this issue with a few strokes and scribbles of his quill, he found his gaze shifting to the window he sat next to in the train car, watching as the night sky flew calmly by, the stars, for the first time in a long time, now clearly visible as he realized just how far from urban life he now was.
In earnest, he couldn't be happier.
"Ponyville... Hm, I can't wait."
Author's Note
And there's the last of the introductory set, as I like to call it.
We'll get the man's name, and the first encounter, soon enough everyone. Until then, enjoy.
Author's Note
This is an 'in-between' chapter folks, so, I apologize for the shortness. However, I plan on giving my short stories a little more attention for a bit. A new chapter should be up soon. As in, by the end of the week, soon. :D
Saturday Morning Wake-Up
The weekends. The amalgamation of one's anticipation and relaxation, bundled into forty-eight hours of usually workless and indispensable glee.
A time in which, be it for only one, or a pair of these days, one can usually discover an undertone of freedom from monotony as the streets clear themselves of heavier activity; ponies are able to put on even friendlier faces than usual, and weather seems to always turn out pleasant.
Was it due to the fact that ponies would not have need to work today, or tomorrow? Or was it simply the overall concept of such relaxation that put these ponies at ease?
Whichever it was, Mayor Mare would not know. After all, she had her own listing of business and work time to attend to throughout the week. Today, despite everypony else's heightened spirits, would be no different.
While any other member of Ponyville were content laying in their beds as their princesses of sun and moon worked to bring about the day, a certain gray-maned mare's ears twitched from below a collection of blankets and coverings, as the clock tower to the town chimed for those of few number to hear.
Of seven of these chimes, it took only six to wake her, the last doing nothing more than reinforcing her reasoning as her eyes peered open, and her ears gave one final twitch.
It was always a particularly tiring process to get up during the weekends for her, but at the same time, they held no specific difference, save for the fact that she was able to leave an hour earlier from work.
Even then, that small benefit that was provided to her on these days mattered little, her workdays usually putting her well over this time of clocking out and right back on her schedule of exhaustion every time.
Struggling to keep her eyes open, the mare gave out a near-soundless yawn, a small squeak escaping her near the end as she released the air she had momentarily held captive in her early-morning stupor.
"Oof... Just another day..." She mentally groaned; her usual mantra expressed once more, she took a quick glance around the room, and towards herself, making sure that she indeed had managed to make it to her bed last night.
Certainly enough, she gave out a sigh of relief as she took notice of the fact that she did, her bedroom's belongings staring back at her, all in the inclusion of mirrors, photos, and several wooden furnishings; barely anymore than the front portion of her head was all that she had left uncovered through the night, aside from a small fraction of her tail, and the tip of one of her hind hooves, which had ended up falling from her mattress from one of her late night kicks.
Three different blankets of varying thickness and textures warmed her tired and aching body as she attempted to collect herself through a tired fog, moving her fallen appendages back onto her queen-sized mattress as she turned herself over onto her back, exposing the rest of her hidden away head and face to the morning world.
Her half-opened blue eyes gazing up to her plain white ceiling, she blinked as she unconsciously fought a battle to free herself from the binding of softness and comfort that was her bed.
I need to paint this room, she thought distractedly as she once again gave a half-hearted blink. It was an odd, seemingly random thought, but it was far from one of no origination and reasoning.
She had been meaning to have her room painted for quite some time now, its white walls doing far too well at reminding her of the office, despite her current location's intent on being a place to relax; a safe haven that was usually just out of her reach to enjoy.
Pulling her front hooves to her sides as she took in a quick gulp of air, she lifted herself up along the headboard of her bed until she was able to easily rest herself on her back in a seated up position; the cold of the wooden headboard, as compared to her recently warmed body, sent a shiver down her spine, jolting through her fur like a sort of spark through water as she tensed slightly.
Using one of her hooves to rub at her tired and drowsy eyes, she tamped her other lightly onto the top of the nightstand to her immediate left, carefully seeking out her glasses. Each time she missed, she moved ever so slightly more to the side, her exhaustion seeming to prevent her from even attempting to simply turn her head and look for them herself.
Nonetheless, upon feeling the metal and jutting object atop her usually smooth nightstand, she carefully reached her other hoof for it as well, clamping the object in between the two and bringing it before her.
She narrowed her eyes as she looked over the glass of her eyewear, flipping and turning it as she ensured that they were clean before she then clicked open their thin metal legs, placing them on with a practiced grace; her ears momentarily wriggled, and her nose scrunched as the cold metal came in contact with each of its long aforementioned areas.
This proved nothing more than to be a quick adjustment to her, however, as she then leaned herself down and grabbed hold of her mess of blankets with her maw, fully seating herself up in the process, as she pulled off the coverings and moved them to the side, where they would remain for a good bit of time; at least until she felt awake enough to neaten them once more.
Another yawn escaping her, she promptly removed herself from the bed hoof after hoof, standing herself onto all fours and giving a swift stretch; her forelegs went as far in front of her as they possibly could, practically making the strain in her muscles audible, while she raised her rear behind her, getting out a good crick from her back.
Once this part of her daily routine was through, she glanced over to her nearby mirror, where her usual attire of a collar and cravat sat, smiling for the first time this morning as she caught sight of the disheveled and messy mare that stared back at her.
"Two more days..." She mused to herself with a shake of her head.
"Just two more days."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the exact opposite of this daily spectrum, another mare, this one of a combination of cerise and pink, laid happily in bed, a smile on her face as she pushed herself further into her blankets, hugging her pillow tightly and happily enjoying its soft and cool embrace.
The school teacher, Cherilee, had woken up herself not long ago, having become adapted to waking up early, so as to reach the school and ready the classroom–along with several stacks of papers, files, and the lesson plans–before the colts and fillies of her class could arrive.
Today, though, despite her early awakening, she felt no more than a satisfied bolt of joy and sloth as she continued to lay nonchalantly, immovably, in bed.
She wouldn't fall asleep, as her internal clock would likely be sure to keep her up in the idea that she would soon be late for work, but she would use these moments of freedom and breathing time to relax as if it were the last thing she would do.
Shifting to her opposite side, she lazily peaked an eye open to her closed–though still brightened by the outside sun–window, and their neatly placed, flower-patterned drapes. Just below this window was a wide cabinet, filled with a variety of her objects in each shelf, all in perfect order. Atop of this cabinet, there were several more objects, including various perfumes, hair care products–essentially everything the average mare would need, coupled only with frames of different pictures that she had collected over the years.
Among these pictures, one stood out. One of a familiar mare, features easily distinguishable as a cerise coat, pink mane, and green eyes made obvious; the difference, however, was their appearance. Younger, styled differently, and with a charming, though horribly out of style dress encircled around her.
Next to this mare, another stood, her features just as easily distinguishable; including tan fur and a deep shade of dark blue in her eyes; Again though, there were some differences. A wild pink mane and tail, a lack of glasses used for professionalism, her collar and cravat, which one would be unlikely to see off of her nowadays, utterly missing.
She remembered those days well. They were only a few years ago, after all. Before the mayor and teacher jobs, and back when everything was just a time in which they could relax without a care in the world.
She felt slightly guilty as to the fact that she was able to relax now, while her friend would continue to work herself to the bone, but there was nothing she could truly do about it.
"And besides, with that new assistant of hers, maybe she can get some rest too?" She smiled at the thought, closing her eyes once more and further embedding herself into the cushioned mattress below her with a sigh.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Two hours to arrival! Two hours to arrival!" The train conductor's voice was the first thing to awaken the man as he rested atop his claimed bed in the train car, muffled by the door that stood between him and the occupants of said car, as he gave it a simple knock.
Of the fairly disgruntled, and seemingly exhausted ponies that he had shared the bed car with, he was the first one up, swinging his legs over the bedside before then reaching behind him and grabbing hold of the neatly stacked pile of letters that laid by the windowsill.
He gave a light yawn as he stood himself up, ordering his letters for what must have been the fifth time since last night, before looking to the door to the car and giving the conductor and acknowledging nod.
The stallion nodded back in return, slightly tipping his hat to the human before returning to his other duties.
It was hard to believe, if only for the man, that the train was actually this close to arrival. The schedule that he had taken to reading in between stops consistently said that the arrival to Ponyville would have taken another day. However, it seemed that, in between some of the several closed off stops, and fair overall conditions, just a little over twenty four hours had been shaved off over this long trip.
Two hours...
He smiled at the prospect, glancing out of his window once more, already imagining the sights that would be provided to him by a more rural abode.
"But first," he then reminded himself, glancing down to his held letters, "I need to deliver these as soon as possible."
And so, as the train continued to travel along the rails, bumping and gliding along the way, the clock ticked for the arrival of a new resident to Ponyville. One that holds promise to change the lives of two certain mares.
"Good morning, Ms. Mayor." Yet another pony greeted as he entered the building, passing casually by the mare of subject's office as he did so and giving her a short wave.
There was a light kick in his step, likely fueled by the prospect of his ability to head home earlier on this day–alongside his next work shift –and the prominently well-used time of sleep he had gotten.
Opposite of him, Mayor Mare exchanged his greeting with one of her own, barely repressing a yawn as she did so, but not taking her eyes away from the stacks of paperwork before her for even a millisecond.
"Good morning..." She managed to utter in between sheets, busying herself with the more recent of financial records from the Town Hall's spendings last week, and now.
She had been here for well over a few hours now, and only now were the other employees beginning to arrive. Of course, what else would she expect in that regard?
Their long aforementioned work hours had always been set to begin after hers, even before she had become a public official. So, to see them come in one by one, hours after she had, each seeming content and cheerful with the arrival of the weekend, was a normal event.
That is to say, it was not like she did not feel envy towards them for this fact, so much as she was simply able to accustom herself to it well.
She needed to be professional about this, after all, and making a motion for a lesser amount of hours to be assigned to her would not only seem opposite of this, but it would be completely counter-productive as well; especially considering the fact that she always managed to stay well after hours working either way.
"If I'm going to be stressed, " she bemusedly thought to herself, "I may as well get paid for it. "
A soft, almost inaudible laugh escaped her as this thought came to her, offering a momentary solace from her sleepless lack of energy... Though, still, it was only momentary.
Glancing away from her work, she partially pursed her lips as she caught sight of the empty, though obviously well-used, mug that sat on the very corner of her table; the inscription of '#1 Mayor' always managed to bring forth another laugh from her, as she had so aptly told the employees who had gifted this to her some time ago.
"...More coffee. I definitely need more coffee. "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"More carrots. I definitely need more carrots. " This was the thought to go through Cherilee's mind as she strolled through the market, her saddlebags practically filled to their brims with groceries of all sorts, save for a few empty spaces.
It was still comparatively early in the morning when she had decided to roll herself out of her bed and start her day of relaxation with a nice breakfast, serving herself a small plate of daffodil pancakes, slightly burnt on one side, just as she liked them.
It was as she had done this, however, that she had taken notice of her growing lack of produce, alongside others foods and spices that she was running short on. And so, here she was, walking down the stall-filled, though fairly empty, morning road that made up the Ponyville marketplace.
Though she appreciated the silence and peace as she casually bought from–and chatted with–her usual vendors, a small part of her, used to the 'controlled chaos' that often made up her classes from work, could not help but to wish for the more crowded road that often came along in the later hours of the day.
I need a vacation, she would think to herself whenever these sorts of 'longings' would come up, scolding herself for being such a workaholic. Of course, at least she could say that she wasn't the only one in Ponyville who shared this trait; and to do so with a good friend as well.
Her train of thought was brought to an end by a short laugh as she approached her last stop, walking up to the stall that a certain orange-maned mare stood behind; she was greeted with a smile, which was promptly returned.
"Good morning, CarrotTop."
"Good morning, Cherilee." They exchanged. "What can I do for you today?" The cerise school teacher gleamed at her friendliness, momentarily looking over her–as her aptly named self implied–large variety of carrots from afar.
"Oh, just a dozen carrots or so. Enough to get me by for a while." The mare carrot merchant nodded happily at the request, making her way over to her products and carefully picking out twelve carrots from a neatly stacked pile.
Cherilee waited patiently as she watched the mare, occasionally glancing to the Ponyville clock tower as she shifted the groceries on her back into a better position, though with some difficulty.
"Oh, and that'll be about three bits." CarrotTop chimed as she gathered up the last of the carrots, putting them atop a small weigher she had in the back and pricing them appropriately so.
"Of course." Cherilee returned, craning her neck as she reached for one of her saddlebags, where she had buried her bits.
However, as she did so, she found there to be a slight issue.
As her grocery shopping, and the constant shifting of her bags, had proven, her bits, and the like, had been quite... Overcome by the large amount of objects she held. So much so that, as she grabbed hold of her saddlebags and attempted seek out her bits, all she could be greeted by were more groceries.
She could barely even move the bags closer to her as a result, further preventing her from obtaining what she needed.
An involuntary huff of frustration escaped her as she continued to root through her bag, alongside a short and whispered "what I wouldn't give for unicorn magic".
Before she could struggle any further though, she felt a light tap on her shoulder; an unfamiliar sort of tap, not quite alien, but not very familiar to that normally given by a hoof.
"Excuse me, Ma'am, would you like some help?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fresh air.
That was the first thing that the man had noticed when he had exited the train, taking his first few steps through Ponyville.
No longer could he hear the drowning noise of a large crowd of ponies and people during rush hour, and no longer could he detect thickness in the air he breathed; nothing more than fresh, clean, and light air.
It was almost unnatural to him, but most definitely not unwelcome.
He had only been provided with a few short minutes of this small town as his surroundings, and already, it was more than enough to put a light smile on his face.
Ponies, despite not even knowing him, greeted him a good morning as he glanced towards a collection of documents he held, returned with similar forthcoming and cheer on every occasion.
Near the back of these documents, he could easily see the deed to his more recently obtained home, listing his address and information in clear and precise letterings placed upon a crisp white sheet.
His smile involuntarily grew at this as well, as he looked up from his papers and momentarily scanned his surroundings.
Before he could make his way over to his new home, he would need to make his way over to the post office to deliver his letters. Priorities, after all.
The issue, however, was that he was unsure as to where it was.
Even now, he found himself to be walking down some random path through the town, simply searching for any sort of assisting sign or hint of direction that may appear in his path.
"For such a small town, " he thought to himself bemusedly, "I'm certainly having trouble finding my way around ."
The thought was actually fairly amusing to him; how he was so easily able to navigate the larger cities of places such as Las Pegasus and Manehatten, yet, the moment he was introduced to a setting such as this, he was more lost and out-of-place than a rock in a jewel convention.
Shaking his head at the thought, whilst providing a light-hearted chuckle, he made his way down another well-used path, this time surrounded by a large collection of stalls, some occupied, with other ponies standing in front of and behind them, and others empty.
He surmised this to be the Ponyville marketplace, having seen a few just like it in previous times, though often on a much larger scale.
Taking in his humble surroundings yet again, he took note of the few ponies he could see, some of them giving him kind waves of welcome, happily returned as he caught sight of them.
Among these many combinations of merchant and costumer ponies, he spotted a more unique sight, drawing most of his attention as he came close.
A seemingly normal stall, wooden bearings and all, along the path before him, stationed and managed by an earth mare with orange fur, and a seemingly darker orange mane; even more appropriately, he quickly took notice of the products she sold, comprised of carrots of several sizes and healthy coloration.
Before this stall stood another mare, a pair of saddlebags over her deep, reddish-pink back, while her lighter and dual toned–though still pink–mane hinted towards her odd positioning as she searched through one of these bags.
Sensing the trouble she was having, and taking notice of the fact that it was not too far out of his current way anyhow, the man moved himself closer along to the side of the path where the stall stood; his papers were neatly placed and held in the grip of his arm, leaving his other free and without issue as he reached out for the clearly struggling mare, giving her a light tap on her back.
"Excuse me, Ma'am, would you like some help?"
The mare seemed to pause at his question for a moment, freezing as she continued to hold her head buried in her saddlebag, before shortly after recovering and responding.
"Oh, if you don't mind, yes, I would like some help." Still not removing her head from her bag as she continued her search, she slightly shifted herself so that the strap of her bags would be more presented towards him. "Could you please hold onto this for me? It'll only be a second."
Though he was aware the mare could not yet see him, he gave her a polite nod as he reached for the strap, lifting it, and by extension, the bags, lightening the mare's load as she was now more easily able to look through her belongings.
This change obvious to her, unlike her obliviousness of who had caused it, the mare found her sought out bits within seconds, letting out a mental cheer of triumph as she removed the small sack of bits from her larger bag in the hold of her maw; it was only now that the man was able to take note of her features, including her bright green eyes.
She placed the bit pouch upon the stall's counter as she then pulled out three of the golden coins of currency, offering a smile to the adjacent mare who stood behind the stall, alongside her inventory.
The mare just as cheerfully took the bits from the customer, moving them somewhere out of view before she then placed a collection of carrots onto the counter in return.
"Thank you, come again soon." The orange mare told her, as she closed her bit pouch once again and gave her a nod of her head; her money held in between her forehooves, and the bushel of carrots in the grip of her maw, she turned herself to give her own thanks to the 'pony' that had assisted her.
"Thnff y-" Before she could finish her muffled message, she once again froze as she took notice of the fact that, beyond her saddle bags, which were currently held out to her, she did not greet the face of a stallion. Rather, she found herself needing to crane her neck upwards, towards the smiling face of the human man.
He couldn't help but to chortle at her reaction, likely not having expected one such as himself to have been the one to help her; that is to say, this did not surprise him very much, considering the already apparent lack of other humans that lived here.
"Everything quite alright?" He asked.
The mare continued silent for another moment or two, her eyes widening shortly before she shook her head in realization of her state, giving the man a muffled answer, which came out as gibberish.
The man laughed this time. "Pardon?"
A light tinge of red came upon the face of the mare in slight embarrassment as she quickly thought through her next action, moving the carrots in her mouth's grip towards the outstretched saddlebags offered to her by the man, placing them snugly inside–this was followed shortly after by her bit bag–before pulling back and attempting to speak once again.
"I-I said, 'Sorry about that'." The man nodded at the much clearer answer of the mare, watching as she grabbed hold of her saddlebags from him, slinging them over her back with a slight grunt, before then explaining on.
"I... Was a little surprised to see you, is all. There aren't really any other humans that live around here." The man gave a mental underline to one of his previous thoughts, now proven even more so by this mare's statement.
"It's no issue whatsoever, Ma'am. Though, truth be told, I'm not particularly sure of which direction I'm going at the moment." A chuckle escaped the man as the mare rose a questioning brow at his words.
"Oh?" She asked, tilting her head ever so slightly to her left.
"Yes, you see, I'm looking for the post office." He lifted his held collection of letters and documents up slightly higher for her to see. "I have some things to deliver."
The mare gave a slow, understanding nod at this, her eyes once again widening as an idea came to mind.
"Oh! If you like, I can show you the way. A good deed draws another good deed, after all." She offered, giving her saddlebags a light bounce as emphasis to her point, following shortly after with a smile.
The man nodded at this, happily accepting her offer. "If it's not too much trouble."
"Great!" Without another word, the mare took her place next to the man, gesturing for him to follow with a bob of her head, before shortly after taking the lead in front of him; he, of course, trailed shortly after.
"My name is Cherilee, by the way. No need to call me 'Ma'am'." She introduced, looking back to him over her shoulder as she did so. "What's yours?"
The man's smile did not fade as he happily returned the introduction, a slight bow to him, of which he had involuntarily picked up in his acting of politics, as he did so. "It is very nice to meet you, Cherilee. My name is William. Will, if you prefer."
"Well, its very nice to meet you, Will."
"The feeling is very much mutual, Cherilee."
Rescheduling
"Oh, Ivory will be so happy. " This was the only thought to go through Cherilee's mind as she made her way down one of the many paths of Ponyville, a more recently met and introduced spectacle of unique proportions following behind her; a human. More specifically, the same human that Mayor Mare had been awaiting.
At least, this was what she had inferred. After all, it was not often that any sort of human came to Ponyville, and it was rather close to the day that a human was supposed to officially begin work under Mayor Mare.
Altogether, William, as the human had told her his name was, seemed to fit into this theory perfectly. Alongside that, the many clear documents he held under his arm, some hidden within manila folder while others remained in place through the use of paper clips and the like, earned him a more business oriented tone...
Yes, she was almost certain that this was that same human.
At the same time though, there was a small amount of unsureness. Humans, though they were uncommon around Ponyville and other 'rural' areas, did pass by every now and then; some came for simple tourism or vacations, wanting a momentary 'change in scenery', while others came by for more business oriented reasons.
Glancing back to him, noting his overall appearance, she could easily lean him towards the latter of the two reasons; what with his neatly combed light and black hair, his cleanly accentuated facial features, and the overall form in which he held himself, everything simply screamed of professionalism.
She could easily have been overthinking the situation, as she knew well and good that she had the tendency to do, but at the same time, her reasoning could very well have been spot on, as it were.
Nonetheless, there was no real method behind her madness if... well, she didn't display any sort of method whatsoever.
She had to say something . The question was, however, how to do so without coming off as rude. She couldn't just directly ask if this was Ivory's--or rather, Mayor Mare's new assistant.
No, instead, she decided to give more... generalized questions. After all, she couldn't be blamed for being curious, could she?
Her mind made up, Cherilee gave herself a short and confident mental nod, before then turning her head to face the human behind her as she walked. William seemed to notice this, returning the look with one of attentiveness.
"So, Will," Cherilee asked, "how come you decided to visit our humble little home?" She made sure to sound as innocent as possible as she asked this question; though, admittedly, she may have ended up overselling it.
'Our humble little home?' She mentally questioned herself over, barely withholding her urge to suddenly slam her hoof into her face.
Either way, be it by luck or some other force in Equestria, William did not seem to take notice of this overly acted question--or at least, he chose not to point it out--instead offering a gentle smile to the school teacher.
"Oh, I suppose you could say I'm here on the basis of business, in a regard." He responded, before then adjusting the papers held underneath his arm.
An ear of Cherilee's twitched ever so slightly as she concluded, with a mental sigh, that this had just been a human passing by, as she had accounted as a possibility.
"Yet, you could also say I'm here out of pure casual intention."
And like that, this conclusion was essentially thrown out the window, leaving a momentarily confused Cherilee.
The expression she held showed this, easily earning a chuckle from the human.
"I'm here for a job." He clarified with a fluent wave of his hand.
"I KNEW IT! YES! " Jumping slightly at her abrupt mental outburst, having not really expected it herself, Cherilee pretended to clear her throat so as to take a short moment before responding.
"Oh, really?" She asked in a calm and controlled manner, as opposed to her mentally cheering psyche. William nodded.
"Mm-hm. A rather nice position, from what I've seen. And certainly a pleasant change from my previous job." The small smile on his face held at the thought of pleasantries and placidity he'd find here; being able to actually hear himself think for once being among that list, ironically enough.
"Well, that's good to know. And besides, I can't say it isn't a pleasant change for you to be here either."
"Oh?"
"We don't exactly have very many human visitors here in Ponyville. In fact, I think you're the first one to come here this year." William glanced around him at these words, noting that Cherilee was, in fact, correct; from what he saw, there wasn't a single human as far as the eye could see. Curiously enough, this only furthered his sense of contentment.
After his several years in politics, after all, he had grown to prefer the company of ponies over humans. Granted, he still had very many human friends and associates, but he simply believed that ponies, in comparison, held a greater overall disposition. That and, in politics, it was more commonly ponies he was able to trust than humans.
"... So I see."
"Yes, it's very- Oh, there's the post office, just up ahead!" Quickly shifting his focus as he heard this, Will had little to no issue finding the building Cherilee had been referring to.
He took a short moment so as to note it's features, including the homely architecture, and the wooden sign that hung above the door, a painted on picture of what seemed to be a letter indicating the purpose of the building.
A stout nod escaped him as he spotted this, both he and Cherilee making their way as far as the front door to the building before halting.
Cherilee, finally being able to do so now that they had arrived, turned herself to completely face Will, taking a brief moment to adjust her saddlebags once more.
She had nearly forgotten she even was still wearing them, oddly enough.
"Well, here we are. Now, just head inside and look for somepony named Stamp Feather. He'll help you send those papers faster than anypony else here probably can." William nodded once more as Cherilee gave him this last set of instruction, smiling a grateful smile.
"Thank you, Cherilee, I appreciate the help." The cerise mare waved off the thanks with a smile of her own, alongside a short laugh.
"Oh, it was nothing, really. Like I said, a good deed draws another good deed."
"I suppose so." A chuckle escaping the man at the mare's repetition, he made his way over to the door to the post office, opening it and entering with ease--save for the fact that he had to duck ever so slightly at the relatively low door frame.
Just as the door closed behind him, Cherilee could barely catch sight of him giving her a friendly wave goodbye, which she quickly returned.
"Bye, Will! I'll see you around!" She added, before, with a lighthearted grin, she began to turn herself around to head back home. After all, she still had groceries to put away, and she had confirmed her suspicions as she had wanted.
"Hm, well he certainly seems quite pleasan- Gah! " Both Cherilee's mental and physical reactions seemed almost in sync as she found herself nearly falling backwards in surprise; who wouldn't, after all, when rather than facing whatever it is you were expecting to face, you were instead given a sight filled with a pink-furred, hyperactive, and widely smiling Pinkie Pie.
Then again, Cherilee thought to herself as she took a moment to catch her breath, Pinkie already has a Surprise Scare Saturday planned once a year... As to when it was, nopony knew.
Supposedly, 'that was part of the surprise'.
"Goodness... Uh, hello, Pinkie. Is there something I can help you with?" Rather than answer, Pinkie simply pointed towards post office door, a slight bounce noticeable to how she stood as she did so.
"Oh, um, you're on your way to mail something?" Pinkie shook her head.
"You left an emergency cake in there?" Pinkie gave another shake of her head, still continuing to hold her smile strong nonetheless. Cherilee was, in all honesty, unsure as to what it was Pinkie wanted.
"You're... Looking for somepony?" This time, she nodded, and Cherilee was quickly able to understand what was going on.
"You're asking about the human, aren't you?" Before Cherilee could even manage to follow up her question with any sort of answer, Pinkie Pie suddenly took in a big breath, leading Cherilee to brace herself.
"I didn't known a human was moving in! Did you know? I didn't! I was just walking by when I saw somepony walking with a human and I thought, 'hey Pinkie, who's that?' So I said to myself, 'gee, I don't know!' And I know everypony here in Ponyville so I went to see, and I saw you were talking to a human instead of a pony, and I heard he was here for a job and-"
Her voice sounding more like a jumbled scrabble of syllables and vowels, she suddenly stopped as she took in a loud gasp, before then speeding off, leaving nothing but a small poof of dust and confetti in her wake.
Cherilee, in the meanwhile, stood there stupefied, attempting to analyze... whatever it was that had just occurred.
Save for the faint smell of sugary treats left over from the quickly fading cloud left behind by Pinkie Pie, and a sudden headache of illogical proportions, there was really no proof left over to even hint that Pinkie had even been there... Well, all that and something more.
Wafting the dust away after eventually recovering from her paralyzingly confusion, Cherilee rose a brow as she saw what seemed to be a small pink slip of folded paper on the floor where the hyperactive mate had just been; the words 'To Cherilee' were clearly written in a glittery and fluid fashion upon the paper, only earning even more of Cherilee's curiosity.
Glancing around her, so as to make sure that she wouldn't end up being surprised by the pink mare once again--though a part of her knew that was in vain--she cautiously picked up the paper, unfolding it with ease.
The first thing to greet her eyes was a large series of text saying 'you're invited!' in all capital letters, followed shortly after by a much smaller, though clearly legible subtext claiming what exactly she had been invited to.
... A welcoming party...
Cherilee couldn't help but to smile, glancing back to the post office behind her before, with a chuckle, moving the invitation into her saddlebags with her groceries.
"Well, I hope Will doesn't mind having all the extra company tonight... And that he doesn't question how Pinkie got his address in the first place. "
She knew from experience that some questions are better left unanswered, lest one wish for a migraine that would likely never go away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mayor Mare, somepony is here to see you." This was what awoke the political pony from her unintentional nap, her head shooting up from the desk with a jolt, as she quickly finished a breath she had been taking in.
"Huh?" She cluelessly exclaimed, looking around her in an attempt to regain her bearings on the situation; not that there was truly much ground for her to cover, in that regard. She was still in her office, she still had a pile of paperwork stacked before her--though it had thankfully been halved in the time she was working so far--and she was still-
"Mayor Mare?"
-being called upon.
Giving out a mental sigh, she adjusted both her cravat and reading glasses, which had been moved out of their usual positions due to her nap, and cleared her throat as she addressed her secretary pony.
"Yes, yes, um, go ahead and let them in." She called back, unconsciously wiping off her desk from any possible debris or particles of filth that truthfully weren't there; an old habit of hers.
From beyond her office doors, she could hear her secretary converse with her apparent visitor.
"Alright, Miss Pinkie Pie, right this way."
And just like that, she quickly regretted not asking who it was before letting them in.
It wasn't that she disliked the pink party mare of Ponyville--far from it, in fact--but often times, she proved herself to be very significant... Distraction. Mayor Mare could easily guess she was already well behind her work schedule as a result of the 'break' she had taken, and with Pinkie Pie likely coming by to either, A, start up a completely random long winded conversation conversation with her, or, B, invite her to some sort of festivity, she would be even more behind without a doubt.
Nonetheless, there was nothing more she could do, for before she could even get another word out, Pinkie Pie was already bouncing her way into the room, her usual signature smile sitting proudly on her face.
"Hiya, Mayor Mare!" She greeted, soon making her place immediately in front of Mayor Mare's desk, though continuing to spring up and down nonetheless.
"Hello, Pinkie Pie." Mayor Mare kindly returned, though with an undertone of exhaustion. "How can I help you?"
The pink mare giggled at this, stopping her bouncing and shaking her head.
"Oh silly, I came to help you! Not the other way around!" Mayor Mare could already guess where this was going, watching in silence as Pinkie Pie turned and craned her head so as to reach into her large and poofy mane. Surely enough, she pulled out a slip of pink paper, before quickly placing it on Mayor Mare's desk.
"See? A party always helps, no matter what the problem!" Mayor Mare gave a small smile to Pinkie Pie, chuckling softly.
"Well, as much as I can't argue with you in that regard, I'm completely swamped with paperwork right now. As you can see." She told Pinkie, gesturing to the pile of papers on the desk.
"Awww, but it's a super duper duper important party!"
If Mayor Mare had a bit for every time Pinkie had told her this, she wouldn't need to be doing so much paperwork in the first place.
"I'm sure it is Pinkie Pie, but I just can't-"
"I mean, I can't throw two 'Welcome To Ponyville' parties for the same person!" Mayor Mare's ears twitched at Pinkie's words, her eyes momentarily widening as she mentally repeated what she had just said.
"W-wait... A 'Welcome to Ponyville' party...? And... you just called whoever you're throwing the party for a 'person', right?"
"Yup, like I would call any human! Buuuuut, if you're really that busy, then I can always just-" The party mare wasn't even able to finish her sentence, a sudden gust of wind interrupting her as it passed by her side, followed by the sound of a door quickly opening, and the faint voice of Mayor Mare saying to 'reschedule her appointments for today'--likely aimed to her secretary.
Before she knew it, Pinkie was alone in the room, nothing indicating Mayor Mare's previous being there save for a spinning, though slowing, revolving chair, and a missing party invitation from Mayor Mare's desk.
"... Wow! Dash has got to hear about this! I didn't even know Mayor Mare could run that fast!"
Fifteen minutes... It had been fifteen minutes since Cherilee had seen Pinkie Pie, taken her groceries home, and put them away before she was the able to head to the address listed on the paper Ponyville's local party pony had left for her. Yet, in those fifteen minutes, Pinkie had, of course, managed to exceed her own reputation... In regards to party planning, that is.
This was easily visible by Cherilee as she stood in the middle of, what she assumed to be, William's home, strewn with several streamers, balloons, party favors, and a large banner that read "Welcome to Ponyville!".
The usual Pinkie Pie welcome wagon, as years of experience had shown Cherilee.
Of course, by Pinkie standards, no party would be complete without ponies to enjoy it... Which she had gotten in surplus...
From what she could tell, there was a little more than a third of Ponyville stuffed into the house, some helping to set up decorations alongside the pink-furred party host, others making idle conversation with each other as they waited.
It never ceased to amaze the cerise school teacher how Pinkie would be able to do all this in such a short time--if not only how she would place most of the decorations before even the first guest arrived, but how she knew exactly how many ponies she should invite. For example, the house they were in itself wasn't particularly large; it was just about the size of her own, really.
Yet, it was mostly unfurnished, likely because of William's more recent move in, leaving a good bit of it empty and spacious. Cherilee could only guess that this was what Pinkie took into account, allowing her to be able to invite just the right amount of ponies to not only make a lively party, but to also make sure that it wouldn't be too cramped.
"That, or she just took a wild guess." Cherilee thought to herself, much more willing to lean towards this reason than the other.
Were she anywhere else, Cherilee would've taken a moment or two to glance around the pre-party ready home, taking a short tour so as to see what Ponyville's newest human had chosen as his new abode. But, unfortunately, she wouldn't be able to even take a single step before she was given a swift 'glad you could make it' from Pinkie Pie.
She barely even lifted a hoof once the door had closed behind her before, within a millisecond, a party hat was placed upon her head, somewhat flattening her mane; there was a sudden intrusion in her mouth in the shape of a party blower; a small spray of confetti and streamers rained upon her, and a familiar and smiling pink pony suddenly stood before her.
"Hiya again, Cherilee! I'm super duper glad you could make it!" She said cheerily.
Upon looking her over--that is, after recovering from her moment of shock--Cherilee took note of the fact that Pinkie just as well sported similar party favors as she had given to her, including the small bits of confetti in her mane, and of course the party hat.
A small part of her psyche flinched as she saw the string that held the party hat upon her head was stretched beyond belief, straining to keep the common party hat upon the impossible to keep down curly mane that was Pinkie Pie's.
Grabbing the party blower from her mouth using the fetlock of one of her forelegs, Cherilee freed her mouth up of tasks to talk.
"Oh, it's, um, no problem, Pinkie." She returned, her tone still in a slight aftershock. It was odd, really. She thought for sure that, by now, she would be used to Pinkie's actions.
Then again, was it really possible for anypony to be?
"Great! After all, this party wouldn't be nearly as fun if one of the first ponies to meet Willy wasn't here!"
'Willy?'
Cherilee decided to simply put this aside. Pinkie had a tendency for nicknaming, so this wasn't really much of a notable occurrence to account.
Then again, Pinkie hadn't even met the human yet, so one could say that this was also rather... preemptive.
"Well, he seems like a nice enough pon- oh, excuse me, person . It would just be rude for me not to help give him a proper welcome." Cherilee spoke with a smile, remembering the pleasant conversation and walk she had with the human not too long ago.
Pinkie nodded furiously at this, and just before she spoke up once more, her eyes widened, followed by a few twitches of her ear, and a slight kick of her left hind leg.
At first, Cherilee was willing to call this a sudden surge of the sugar that always held high power in Pinkie's systems... But then she remembered it was Pinkie Pie she was talking about, alongside a certain feature of hers that most ponies in Ponyville are careful to take heed of.
"Pinkie sense..." Cherilee realized within seconds, her nerves already beginning to grow tense at the thought of something, whatever it may be, occurring.
It's odd, but she could vaguely remember a time in which she had thought of the concept of 'Pinkie Sense' to be nothing more than a fabricated amalgamation of Pinkie's hyperactivity. Five potted plants falling near where she walked and a few doors opened into her face later, however, she was just as much a believer as anypony else.
"Ooh, yay! Something's coming here for the party!"
Cherilee hazarded a guess, already slightly more calm as she took note of the fact that Pinkie seemed more excited about the fact than worried.
"Oh? Is it William? Did your Pinkie sense tell you that?" Pinkie gave a short laugh at this, lightly shaking her head.
"No silly! Wide eyes, twitchy ears and right back leg kick means the party pony--or person--is on the way! Wide eyes, twitchy ears and left back leg kick just means that something else is coming! And I think I know who!" Cherilee rose a confused brow at Pinkie's statement, watching as she moved passed her and, without so much as losing a centimeter off of her smile, grabbed hold of the front door and opened it wide behind Cherilee.
She stood like this for several moments simply humming to herself while Cherilee, alongside several other ponies in the party, watched her.
She only really spoke after glancing to and back from outside and Cherilee, and what she said only served to add to the situation's overall confusion.
"Oh, Cherilee, you should probably take a teensy-weensy step backwards."
The school teacher's brow only rise even higher at this, but she complied nonetheless.
Sure enough, mere seconds afterwards, a sudden blur blasted its way past the door, bringing up a strong breeze along with it.
Within an instant, the large bundle of ponies that were in the house managed to separate just enough to allow the unknown blur passage, giving it a chance to go down an open doorway into what presumably was the house kitchen. Or, at least, it was assumed by the sudden sounds of different silver and metal objects of varying sizes hitting the floor, following shortly after the large thud that had likely caused it.
For a moment, the party patrons simply stayed where they were, not so much as glancing towards where the apparent blur had crashed. Pinkie Pie, on the other hoof, simply gave out a light giggle, mentally remarking as to how even she was relatively surprised as to this disturbance's speed; she, unlike the others, was well aware of what, or rather whom , had been the cause of this.
It wasn't until the other partially unnerved ponies began to get over their initial shocks and look into the kitchen that they were able to gain similar knowledge as to what had caused the issue. And upon doing so, several found themselves losing most control of their jaws, allowing them to plummet as far down as they could before being held from collapse by their own anatomy.
There, amongst a pile of fallen pots and pans, an upside down earth mare laid, one of these such pots covering her face and causing the pained groan she seemed to give out become muffled. Though the hiding of her face certainly provided a slight moment of unsureness, the ponies that were inside the home were easily able to identify the pony by her other features, including her fur color, her mane, and, more notably, the cutie mark on her flanks.
Barely anypony noticed as Pinkie Pie bounced her way over to the mare, Cherilee following shortly her after upon realizing who the mare was.
No sooner than the two had entered the room in which the newly acquainted mess laid in did the mare attempt to wriggle herself right side up once more, the pot on her head falling off--whereas those that laid by her sides gave off various clangs and clinks against the floors and one another--confirming the guess that most ponies had made as to the identity of the mare.
"Oof... Celestia be darned if I didn't have enough aches as is." Mayor Mare groaned as she sat herself up, rubbing one of her forehooves against a newly forming pain in her neck from the unexpected impact.
Then again, she could only blame herself. It had been quite some time since she's had any sort of exercise of that extreme, and, suffice to say, while she had managed to recall how it began, she was just short of remembering how it ended...
In this case, it would seem that it ended in a pile of kitchenware.
"Hopefully nopony saw tha-"
"Hi Mayor Mare!" She suddenly heard, causing her mental train of thought to sufficiently crash, and her entirety to thoroughly groan.
Opening her previously closed eyes, Mayor Mare withheld a sigh as she saw, not one, not two, but several ponies looking in her direction, most with looks of shock and surprise about them.
The two that stood directly before her in particular, though, were most notable in that, one, they were among the more familiar, and two, they were among the most unique in terms of their given expressions: one held a face of flat out amusement, this of course being Pinkie Pie, and the other held one of what looked like exasperation, Cherilee.
"Oh, uh... Hello, Pinkie Pie..." Mayor Mare didn't even begin to question as to how Pinkie Pie had managed to arrive here before her, knowing that it would do nothing more than to provide her with a logistical migraine, and instead turned her attention slightly more to the side, towards Cherilee and the crowd.
"... Everypony." She greeted with a sheepish smile and wave.
"Glad you could make it! Ooh, and only a minute or two after I gave you the invitation too!" Pinkie Pie welcomed with her usual smile. The words she spoke, however, only ended up bringing a raised brow from Cherilee, who looked between both Pinkie Pie and Mayor Mare in confusion.
"Wait, 'a minute or two'?" She questioned.
"Ivor- Er, Mayor Mare, your office is halfway across Ponyville. H-how did you get here so...?" At the question, Mayor Mare simply shrugged.
"Oh, I was... In a rush to meet our newest member of Ponyville... is all." Cherilee was not particularly satisfied with this answer, especially since it didn't really give her an answer , but she decided not to point this out.
After all, doing so would likely lead to her having to question how Pinkie Pie had gotten here before Mayor Mare had, and, much like Mayor Mare, Cherilee knew better than to make her way down that path.
"It's a good thing too! He probably isn't going to take too much longer to get here. In fact..." Putting a hoof to her chin as she momentarily glanced to the ceiling, almost as if she expected some sort of question or answer to come her way from above, she didn't say another word as she dashed out of the room, disappearing out of both Cherilee and Mayor Mare's sight to do... Whatever it was she was doing.
"... Um, Ms. Cherilee?" The school teacher was quick to turn her attention to her companion, whom was now using the same professionalism to address her as she had to her.
"Would you mind helping me with... Well..." The elected pony official gestured around her towards the kitchen, which was well messed and untidied by her unmeaning hooves.
"... This..." Cherilee barely withheld a lighthearted chuckle, nodding at her friend.
She wasn't too keen on cleaning, but, it gave Cherilee the chance to talk to her friend about Ponyville's newest resident, her friend's new assistant.
