Learning the Town

Learning the Town

{Author's note: This is just a stress reliever for me; yes, the mail-mare I referenced here is Derpy. I'm going off of some other fan-fics I've read where she's incredibly intelligent, just incredibly socially crippled...and emotional...me in a nutshell, honestly.

The dragon is, indeed Spike...the name 'Miss Gentlehoof' just came off the top of my head....had to have something.

And yes, I know there's like...nothing for excitement. I'm just not that kind of pony, I just like writing stories to tell a story. Who knows, I might make it more adventurous or something later, but for now, I think I'll just keep it calm. Probably better for me in the long run.}

"Dear Diary/AKA Miss Gentlehoof:

Why is it a bad day can't get better? I mean, come on...even I know better than to chat with a random pony about...well...random crap? Yeah, it's nice to just chat with a pony every now and then, but for two hours on end...no. Pretty much ruined my day today.

I must be honest, I really am glad you gave me the idea of this diary. Kinda lucked out when I found a local dragon who can send these to you in a flash, saves me a lot of bits on postage. Though...hate to do that to the poor mail-mare here, she seems so nice...reminds me of myself. I have a hunch that might not be good for either of us. Maybe it's good she doesn't know me well, then?

Anyway, hope all is well up in Canterlot still. Good thing you told Princess Celestia about what I do, huh? I have to admit, that jacked business way up, thank you a lot! I still owe you!

Anyway, I guess I should wrap this up...li'l longer than usual, I know, just been one of those days.

Your faithful (though admittedly unsure) student,

Tinker Torch"

Phew, that's done. You know, ever since I started doing these diaries to my old Psychology teacher (though, I still have no idea why I took that, if I went into a trade career), I think I have been a little calmer, at least at night. Of course, knowing I'm not alone in my...social dysfunctional-ism, helps....sometimes. Not all the time, but sometimes.

That poor mail-mare...Derpy's such a gentle pegasus, it's so hard to imagine she'd be the sort of mare she is....perhaps I should clarify.

I own a fairly successful company (especially considering this is only its third year of operation) that sells, installs and maintains accent lighting (especially color changing lights); named Torch Lighting...we just recently became incorporated, so that's cool in itself. But in the process of getting this business off the ground, I found a slower lifestyle helps keep me fairly sane...hence, the move to just outside Ponyville. That, and the ponies here are just so...kind, especially for me being so different than most everypony here.

I've been here for a couple months now, and I've already met some nice ponies here; but the ones that really caught my attention are Fluttershy (she reminds me of myself, too), and that poor, strange-eyed pegasus. Yeah yeah, I know you're probably saying I'm being way too sappy, but there's reasons I say that. One, we hit it off quick. When I first moved, I had to go to the post office to fill out the change of address crap...of course, this was after Pinkie Pie's obligatory welcoming party, which I will admit was a blast.

Keep in mind, all this was in my first day here!

“Hey there, mister! What brings you in here today?” I looked up from walking in, and there was a light gray, almost blue, pegasus hovering right above the desk.

“Oh, just moved into town, gotta do the change of addre...ahem...change of address.” As I looked up, I happened to see her eyes. Yes, they caught me off-guard at first, because that's the first time I'd ever seen anything like that. Of course, I didn't want to upset her, so I tried my best to keep my composure.

“Oh...umm, okay...hold on, lemme get that for you then.” I caught a glimpse of her ears dropping back as I spoke...unfortunately, I knew that look from personal experience.

Crap, you upset her already...smooth.

“okay...thanks.” As she flew off, I ended up acquiring the same kind of look she had. Not the eyes, but the dejected sort of look. I knew I screwed up already, I just hope she wouldn't hold that against me.

Quick, Tink, think of something...hey, maybe she knows where some good places are around here!

She came back. Rather quick, I might add.

“Okay, mister, here's your pa...you okay?”

SHIT! Come on, Tink! You've had that mask going forever, don't stop it now! You don't want her worried about you like Miss Gentlehoof was, do you?

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine, just...bad memory hit me.”

Well, there goes the chances of a good third impression.

“Oh...yeah, I know how that is.” She got a headtilt from me...first time I've heard that from anypony. “Oh, right, address! You just need to put in your old address here,” she said as she took her hoof and pointed to one shaded section; “the new one here,” her hoof moved to another shaded section; “and a signature underneath it. Sound good?”

I just watched her as she explained it to me. I've done it a couple times before, but there's no way I was going to be rude. I'd been that way enough already.

“Yep! Thanks, miss...”

“Oh, I'm sorry! I'm Miss Hooves.”

Oh lord, I'd bet she got made fun of that a lot...wait, why did I just think that?

“Oh, right, Miss Hooves.” I started quietly filling out the paperwork as the back of my mind thought of something to say.

Come on, Tink...break your usual silence, you know you don't like ponies who act even remotely like you do.

Paperwork filled out, I just quietly nosed it back to her and put the pen back in the cup on the desk.

“Hey, Miss Hooves...umm...”

Oh, come on, Tink! Think...ugh, stop saying that, that's so corny. Come on, tell her you're having a party or something.

“Yes, Mister....Torch? As in, the Torch, from Torch Lighting?”

...wait, what?

“Yeah...that'd be me.” This baffled me a bit. How'd she hear about me? One, I didn't have anything out here this far...two, I didn't know I was so well known! Especially for something so insignificant as making...lights...weird.

“I'm a big fan! I happened to read an edition of 'Canterlot Living', and saw a picture of those lights you installed in the Princess' castle, and I've always wanted to meet you and see you at work, and...” She inhaled...then blushed a little. “Sorry, I ramble sometimes.” I couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle. “Anyway, I've always wanted to meet you! You see, I've kinda been working on my own thing that you might like...”

Oh, holy crap, you have fans. This is new! This could be helpful

I had to think up something quick.

“Oh, well then...yeah, the castle was one heck of a job.” I took a moment to ponder something. “Hey, your little creation...or dare I call it what I call my stuff, a monster?” Her ears dropped again at the term 'monster.' “Err....anyway, if you want, you can pop by my place later. Would be nice to have someone to chat with.”

I saw her ears perk up, and I could have sworn her eyes lit up. “Oh, really? That'd be neat! Umm...I can get out of here in about a couple hours, is that okay?” I didn't have the heart to really say anything, so I just nodded. “Cool! See ya then!”

...that went strangely well.

Well...first day here and I found a fan...might've found a friend, too. So, yeah, I put stuff in the castle for Princess Celestia. She was actually my second customer, so that was a massive risk...went well. I didn't get banned to a tiny island in the middle of nowhere, so that should say a lot.

Maybe I should explain what my stuff does. To some, yes, it's just color changing lights. But, that's only when they go into the showroom at Canterlot. The cool thing is, I've had some of the contractors around build some small, complex rooms so I could show off just how artistic it can look. It all depends on the room, really. Though, I digress.

The next couple hours of the day went by unceremoniously. Filling the fridge with the food I brought, organizing the cabinets, the usual. I admittedly had sort of forgotten I had a pony coming over, so the doorbell surprised me quite a bit...partly because I forgot this house had one. Off to the door I trotted.

“Hi there, Tinker!” Holy crap, I barely opened the door. You know, you learn quick that this pony is fast!

“Oh, hey there, Miss Hooves...sorry, kinda got caught up with organizing here. Come on in!” And with that, I got the strange feeling that it was going to be an interesting visit.

“Thanks! Wow...roomy, huh?” I nodded a bit as I trotted back to the kitchen to finish what I started. I know, bad host, but I do hope she'd understand....of course, I didn't know she didn't see me nod...or walk. “Hey, where ya goin?” I stopped.

“Huh? Oh...sorry, I still kinda wasn't done with this.” My ears dropped a little, feeling bad. Unfortunately, she mirrored me....so, I went on a hunch. “You wanna help?”

Her ears perked up. There we go! “Sure! What can I do for ya?”

“Well, you see that box over there?” I pointed my hoof to a rather small box marked 'Kitchen'. I wasn't being mean by giving her the smallest box to move, it just so happened thats all that was left. She nodded a bit. “Can you bring that here for me, Miss Hooves?”

“Sure!” She flew over with what seemed to be excitement I've only seen from fillies whose parents just let them play in the mud, or something.

I jumped at a slight thud, whipping around quickly and rushing to her. “Hey...you okay?” She lay against the nearby chair, which was now turned upside down. Her eyes were spinning like she just got conked on the head, as she was sprawled over the floor in a rather odd position.

“Yeah, I...I'm okay...just tripped, is all.” How could she trip? She was flying...right?

I had helped her to her hooves as she gave me a slightly odd look..like, worry, mixed in with some emotional pain, like it's happened before. “Miss Hooves...I hate to be so blunt, but...you don't look like you're okay.” Her ears dropped more as she looked away from me....was that a hint of shame? Oh, god, she is me!

“I'm...I'm so sorry, Mister Torch, I'm such a klutz! I didn't mean to break your chair, I really didn't! I just....” I saw tears...acting on a whim, I gently tried to pull her into a hug. I was amazed when she didn't fight, to be honest. All of a sudden, I felt legs wrapped around me, attached to quite a shaky mare....the poor girl scared herself half to death.

“Shh, shh...it's okay, Miss Hooves.” She whimpered a bit and muttered something.

“What was that?”

A couple sniffles later, she had the courage to say “My name is Derpy....”

And in an instant, everything seemed to make sense. I just hugged her tighter and she ended up crying even more. She must have seen trust in me, somehow.

Oh, dear Celestia, I hope I'll be able to help her.