As two hearts unite

Valliant Shadow must have finally dozed off, as the sound of his alarm clock startled him into falling out of bed. His back against the hard wooden floor, the colt yawned and reached for the blasted screaming device, turning it off after three attempts.

Sluggishly, he twisted around and heaved himself into a standing position, sleepily resting his head against the simple drawer next to his bead. His brain begun functioning properly, reminding him of yesterday’s events – the fare, the mare, the despair of broken ware. It even rhymed.

Having plenty of time before departing for work, the colt scavenged around his fridge, hoping that a miracle would fill it during the night. As far as he could tell, there might have been a miracle inside, but it was inedible. And smelled gross. Maintaining a clean house, despite its relative smallness, was a task that flew over the pony’s head. What little clothes he had lay in a heap near the bed, his only wardrobe was empty and looked quite sad, and the contents of the refrigerator were already plotting their owner’s demise.

“Think it’s time to throw this garbage away before it develops any hooves or hands to strangle me with,” muttered Valliant, closing the fridge doors. “Maybe tomorrow.”

The colt reached for the cupboard above his sink, scooping a box of cereal. Reluctantly, he looked at the pile of dishes nesting in the sink. Somehow all the bowls, spoons, forks and dishes that he owned, which weren’t many, lay there, each dirty with some meal he ate in the past. He wasn’t a great cook, so most of that was fast-food from his favorite place not that far from the construction site he worked on now.

“Maybe. Someday,” he grumbled, tipping the box and munching on a mouthful of oats. They were horrible without milk, and Shadow could barely swallow the gooey mass. Still, it was a lot safer than trying to add milk to it. The milk that remembered the times when his parents visited a few months back.

“Maybe we’ll grab some lunch later with the boys,” shrugged the colt, reaching for his helmet and work belt neatly arranged on a small table near the doors. He had to care for those particular items, they were borrowed and it would be a pain to buy back yet another broken trinket.

Stomach growling, mane in disarray and winding his jaw in a yawn, the colt left his home. With a sigh of pleasure, Valliant Shadow embraced the dawning sun. The cold morning air ruffled his fur, pumping in some energy and optimism that would let him last through the day.

* * *

“Hiya Valliant!” called out a brown coated pony, shaking his hoof with the colt. “So, how was the Summer Sun Celebration? As fancy-shmancy as everypony makes it to be?”

“You don’t even know the half of it,” chuckled Valliant, loosening up his muscles. It would be a long day, and not a single cloud in the sky heralded work in the heat of the sun.

“Heh, guess you’re right. Never been into that kind of thing. Too many ponies in a too small space, you gots to watch where you’re going and make sure you have yer horseshoes on ya at the end of the day.”

“True,” snorted Valliant, heaving up a wooden beam.

The house the construction ponies were building already had its skeleton set in place. Right now they had to construct the floors, prepare more wood for the walls and stairs, and then wait Celestia knows how long for tiles to arrive. While the Everfree Lumberjacks were a reliable company, albeit a bit crazy for gathering resources in such a creepy place, it was a well-known fact that Pristine Tiles took its time with manufacturing goods. Even if they made stupid excuses that ‘perfection takes time’, they were the darn best and most honest tile supplier that Valliant’s boss could afford.

“How’s it going, boys?” greeted his workers Solid Roof, the overseer for Hoofsdale Constructions.

“As Solid as ever,” chuckled a few colts in response. The pun was as old as ever, but the boss didn’t mind. He and his crew went a long way back. It would be honest to say that most of the new architecture in Hoofsdale was built with their sweat, tears and sometimes imaginative cussing.

“Boss?” Valliant Shadow approached his employer who was in the middle of skimming through a checklist on his clipboard. “Can I speak to you for a second?”

“Sure, boy! What’s troubling ya?” asked the overseer, his eyes still focused on his work.

“I was wondering, would there be any overtime available this week? Or maybe even this month?”

“Sure, there’s always something to do. Need the extra cash, kid?” smiled the bulky pony, eyeing Valliant.

“Yeah, kind of,” chuckled Shadow, kicking some dust up.

“Something wrong? Got trouble?”

“No, of course not, sir! I just, uh...well-”

“I get it, I get it,” Solid waved him off. “Well, let’s see. Yeah, I guess we could have something tomorrow. Unless those Pristine bucks don’t delay their shipment again, I’ll need a pony on-site to unload the stuff after working hours. If you’re up to it, we could reschedule a bit and start tiling the roof earlier to save some time. So, you’d basically just unload the cargo, secure it and do fill out some paperwork. Standard overtime pay, I gather no more than two or three hours. Deal?”

“Yes sir!”

* * *

The day went by as predicted; it was hot and everypony was sweating their fur off, pausing every now and again to pour some water into their mouths or onto their backs. As always, a small group of mares gathered near the site, whistling and winking at the construction ponies, who in turn flexed and shot dirty looks. Valliant did not indulge more than it was polite to, mainly because he was tired and the sweat rolling down his muzzle left a salty taste that made smiling difficult.

During lunch break the colt was saved by one of his co-workers with a dandelion sandwich. Valliant was so thankful he even listened to the pony’s rambling about his wife. It seemed he got married quite recently and his wife, who was described as the most perfect being in the universe, always made him extra lunch.

“I don’t know how she does it, considering we both have very little energy in the morning. If you know what I mean.”

Of course he did. This was the most discussed topic on site, apart from other coltly things such as wagons, body building or bets on Wonderbolt races. Very few of those topics really interested Shadow. He mostly came here for the work, not the bits or social interactions. He was honestly into his vision of creating houses for generations of ponies to come.

He looked around, remembering all the years he spent on sites. The cream and yellow house and how the roof nearly fell apart due to an unexpected termite infestation. How the chimney on that blue one was tilted and the guys named it the Drunken Tower.

Actually, the first floor of that house with a garden was assembled while half the crew was drunk. It was the day after one of them had their first foal – even Valliant had to admit it was the cutest little filly he had ever seen. The dad was swelling with pride and jumping to the needs of his wife and child, thus missing out on most of the party. And yes, the day after that, the boys just rolled over to the site and it was a miracle nopony lost a hoof or eye. A professional is a professional, even with enough alcohol cruising through his veins to knock out a cow.

Valliant was lucky enough that day to only have a hangover, one that couldn’t be quenched even with the help of the local water reservoir. All of them got a talk from the boss – it was a quiet speech, one that Solid Roof made with a bag of ice on his head and his bloodshot eyes half-lidded.

His memories were cut short by everypony packing up the remains of their lunch and returning to work. Yes, this was a fine life, and a great job with fantastic ponies. Still, the time he had to spend between working hours was…boring.

* * *

Solid Roof blew a whistle, letting his workers know they are done for the day. Happy with their work, he shook hooves with each and every one of them, making double sure Valliant still wanted the extra assignment.

“Oh, and, kid. Remember, if you have any trouble, you know who to call. We are more than a team you know. We-”

“- are a family. And a bloody good one, sir,” finished Valliant, smirking. The overseer smiled back, nodding and writing some notes on his ever present clipboard.

The sun was still high up in the sky, and only a few smaller shops closed for the day, so the colt decided to indulge in some window shopping. He should call it ‘look at things you can dream about for the next few years’. He was quite certain that even with overtime, if there was any that he could take, it would take a lot of effort to gather the sum that etched itself in his mind with big red numbers.

“Geez, that girl sure has a lot of bits to waste on fancy junk,” growled the colt, leaving the front of a tool shop. He would have to get tools of his own sooner or later, as it felt weird to keep the ones he had for such a long time now. Having debts rubbed Valliant the wrong way. He was thankful to those that offered help, of course, but it was a drag to have to constantly remind yourself that somepony, somewhere, is waiting for you to return a favor.

The colt always tried to offer whatever help he could without asking anything in return. In most cases he did get a favor back, but in his book that was not rushed and he didn’t ask for it. A present for a present was okay, as it flowed from the need of the heart, not a weighted down conscience.

“Oh…it’s you,” sompony said next to him. Snapping back to reality, the colt looked sideways. His view was filled with a flowing red mane and a yellow muzzle with gorgeous green eyes. The face was clad in a mildly disgusted expression, so the thrill of seeing it got immediately quenched and replaced by defensiveness.

“Uh. Hello. Yeah, it’s me,” he replied, pouting slightly. “What are you doing here, Satin Veil?”

“Window shopping,” said the mare, a theatrical sigh leaving her lips. “I like to just look at all the things.”

“But these are tools. You have a hobby or something?”

“No. I stopped here because I saw you,” Satin sneered, flicking away a stray strand of her mane. “Listen. I know we started off the wrong hoof. And I really don’t miss those vases or anything. You are forgiven, it didn’t happen, everything is fine. Just please, please don’t make a show out of this incident, okay? Just leave me alone.”

“Why? Does it bother you so much?” Valliant furrowed a brow. He wasn’t sure if she was forgiving him, apologizing or making a fool of him. Either way, it didn’t sit well with the stallion.

“Yes, it does. A lot. Let’s be honest,” the mare lowered her head slightly and took on a smug smile. “You saw I was rich, right? And now you know who my parents are. Many before you tried similar tricks, but as you can see, I am still single and happy about it.”

“Huh?” replied the stallion, cocking his head.

“Stop playing dumb, okay?” spat the irritated pony, stomping her hoof. “I know you are in it for the money. You’ll get all friendly with my dad and mom, then try and woo me. Once you’ve done that, you’ll start asking small favors, which my dear but naïve father will grant you. And then, once you get bored or find another nice flank, you’ll dump me, like they all did. I’ll cry some, my dad will comfort me, and we’ll never hear of you again. Yeah, you should know I did that a dozen times over, and am sick and tired of it.”

Valliant Shadow was in too deep a shock to even open his mouth. What was this mare saying? Was she passing judgment on him without even the slightest hint of evidence? How could she even think he would be such an inconsiderate jerk?

“Ha, you’re all the same,” snorted the filly, backing away slightly, apparently sure of her victory. “So let’s cut a deal, here and now, okay? You tell me what you want, I’ll try and get it for you. Then, you will leave me alone. Me and my family. I don’t want nothing from the likes of you, you hear me? Just name your price. Bucks like you make me-”

“I can’t believe how shallow you are,” whispered Valliant, cocking his head.

“Excuse me?!”

“Y-You heard me,” repeated the colt, anger churning in his chest. If she were a colt, she would already have a black eye and a few teeth to swallow. “Shallow. Judgmental. How dare you accuse me of anything?! How can you go around telling ponies things like that?! Ugh!”

This time, it was the mare who kept silent, her ears withdrawn and forehoof slightly raised.

“You don’t even know me that well, and you put those kind of words in my mouth?! Really, of all the mares, I had to bump into the most stuck up and narcissistic one? Your parents seem like great ponies and I have no idea how you can be their daughter. You make me sick.”

Silence yet again. Valliant Shadow was puffing, containing the heat in his torso. It hurt him so much that somepony would ever think so low of him.

“You know what? I’ll buy back those stupid vases. I’ll buy them back, shove them in your stupid face and then you’ll never again hear from me. Have a nice day,” the stallion spat, trotting away, leaving the mare stunned.

The sun was getting low over the horizon and a light breeze finally blew life into Satin Veil. Nopony ever talked to her in that tone. In such an angry, shaking voice. She was nearly certain he was going to hit her, he was leaning so hard over her. She didn’t deserve that. All stallions were the same. It was always the same scenario. But why the hay didn’t Valliant Shadow follow the script?!