Coloratura held her single suitcase close to her, wearing a heavy, gray sweater over her body as she walked off the train. Octavia, Vinyl and her had shared breakfast earlier that day, but she had asked to go see her landlord by herself. She didn’t admit to them that she was simply uncomfortable drawing attention to herself here, not while she was still trying to figure out just what she might do. “I only hope I do manage to find someone nice soon.”

She slowly walked along the streets, her eyes almost glued to the directions she had. It wasn’t the most direct way to her place, but it kept her on the side streets, and far from the main market area. Octavia had been told it was to avoid the traffic caused by the farmer’s market, but that was simply another keep her distance. “Rara, you really need to find something else to think about.”

She didn’t try very hard though. The last few weeks had been a nightmare as Sven Gallop tried to make it out that her whole career had been false, and that she had simply lip synced her music. While she knew there were fans of her that would have stayed hearing that, when they heard she had also decided to quit, and had supposedly called all fans of it morons and that she did it only for the cash she lost even those. The artists she had known in Manehatten wanted to help her, but it would be a couple months before she could collaborate with them and not risk their careers too. Part of the issue with having the ‘best manager in Manehatten.’

Still, some smaller time folks had stood up for her, and that was why she even knew Octavia, let alone had a house to come to now. She looked up at the nice, two story house, and managed a smile. It was nice enough, and while Octavia said that her landlord would possibly get loud at times, she was nice for the most part. With that hope in mind, she brought a hand up, and knocked.

When the door opened, a pink girl, maybe eighteen years old came out with a finger to her lips. “Shh. Please, I do not want you waking my mom up. She got dumped last night, and if I have to see her actually hungover again so soon, I might finally drink myself.”

Coloratura blinked a few times, before slowly extending her hand like she was supposed to. She honestly didn’t know what else to do, as it had been years since she went and met people by herself. Did he really dominate my life that much? She shrugged it off, deciding to instead focus on what was in front of her. “Umm, hello, my name is Tura, and I’m here to rent the guest bedroom?”

The pink mare blinked a few times, looking up to Coloratura for a few moments, before letting out a sigh, and opening the door. “Alright, come on in, but please, be quiet. My mom… she could use the sleep.”

Walking in, Coloratura was pleasantly relieved to see how clean the whole place is. In fact, it was almost immaculate. The mail was neatly stacked on the table, the blankets were folded and put on the couch in living room, and there was a pleasant honeysuckle scent wafting through the air. “Well, the ad online didn’t lie I see.”

The young mare turned back and smiled weakly. “Thanks. I try my best to keep up with my mother’s nightly mess, but it can be hard to do so sometimes. In fact…” she looked down and sighed, “can you please wait to check the kitchen?”

Coloratura paused, and felt something force her to look at the mare a touch closer as the world turned slightly more green. There was dust and dirt on her plain, black t-shirt, and her jeans had multiple, shoddy repairs in them, as if done by a complete ametuar, or Coloratura even, if she were honest about her skill level. It was the eyes that gave her away though. Someone so young and pretty, with a fairly impressive chest that Rara was trying not to make a note of, should not have bags under her eyes, but hers were deep.

“Just, please don’t worry about the house. I always squeeze it in after work, and so long as you aren’t too messy, I can take care of it. I’m… used to it.”

Coloratura stepped forward and placed a hand onto the other mare’s shoulder. “I don’t believe I caught your name. May I?”

The pink mare blinked a few times, staring into Rara’s eyes, before turning away and tucking a piece of her light purple mane behind her ear. “It’s… it’s Berry Pinch.”

“Well, Berry Pinch,” she said with a bright smile, “I need to get back into the swing of doing things for myself, so I refuse to let you take care of me. Besides, I should have plenty of time to help with chores, and, maybe, if there’s time, we can have some fun after we’re done.”

Berry mouthed the word ‘fun’, as it was a concept that she didn’t know super well anymore, before nodding, and a tear came to the edge of her eyes. “A-alright, th-that sounds amazing actually!”

Coloratura beamed at the smaller mare, before saying, “Onwards!”

======+++++======

A smile lit up Coloratura’s features as she entered the room. Memories of herself at eighteen, telling everyone that when she graduated she would become something whirling around in her head. It helped of course that Berry Pinch, who was still only eighteen herself, had really needed somepony to vent to, and Rara had been happy to listen.

The girl loved her mom, but it sounded rough. When one’s cutie mark is in the making and drinking of wine though, intoxication was a close friend. Unfortunately, add that to insecurities and depression, and Berry Pinch didn’t get to see her mother very often. She only saw what her mom drunk was. Coloratura only hoped that it was the exhaustion of last night talking.

A buzz came from her pocket, and she slipped it out. It was Ulvick, with a message hoping that she was willing to trust him, and that her new friend is a real cutie. A blush came over Rara’s face as she remembered the mare’s large chest, and she grabbed one of her own well endowed mounds. Of course, with so many performers nowadays, they were almost necessary. “That, or it’s Harmony having fun with us creative types.”

She giggled to herself as her phone buzzed again. She nodded to the text, agreeing with it. The book had done well with her wish for a friend, as she doubted the green was just sewer gas or something. No, something had helped her notice, and something had helped Pinch open up, and she was overjoyed by it all. Now the question simply was, what came next?

Author's Note

The comment for this was about getting a small gift. In this case, it was friendship.