Saccharine Arcadia

Chapter 7: Nothing Takes Your Mind Off Of Things Like Working...

Ponyville Spa, Just Outside Steam Room:

“Something tells me I should really come to terms with what the fuck just happened… It just seems like the right thing to do.”

“Fuck it. New life and all… But shit… Ok, just don’t let anyone or anypony know. Yes, for the time being anyway. Fuck, especially not Rarity or Pinkie, if they know, everypony knows, and then, I’m screwed.”

Rob continued down the steamy halls for a short while, and turned to a door on his left. From behind it he heard the familiar feminine voice of Rarity, talking to presumably Fluttershy, in a shrill but charming chatter. He reached down and grasped the slider, pulling the door open to the right. A familiar shuffle was heard and echoed through the thick fog, alerting the mares to his presence. They turned in time to see him, as he entered the room.

Squinting through the dense haze, Fluttershy was the first to respond, and did so by gently waving a hoof in his direction. Rarity, who for the most part, had her back to him, also did the same when she registered who it was. Whatever they were talking about was obviously not that important, as they had stopped as soon as he had entered, and he quietly took a seat opposite the two on a wooden bench attached to the far wall.

The room itself followed the same dark theme, present in all areas of the spa, but was also much dimmer than the previous rooms, accentuating the atmosphere of relaxation endorsed by the spa. The thick almost, viscous layer of steam, did not do anything to aid visibility, and instead, hindered it. The room was fairly small and square, there were tiered benches along three of the walls, all but the eastern one, which instead had a stone heater with a bucket of water next to it, complete with ladle. It was producing a healthy cloud of steam. Generally, everything was made of wood. Fluttershy was practically facing the door, on a higher level of the tiered benches, and Rarity was on the floor, back facing towards the door, trying to stay as cool as possible by getting below the steam. Rob felt this sort of went against the purpose of being in the steam room.

The two mares looked different, much like Aloe and Lotus had earlier. Their manes hung wet and limp around their necks, and Rob found that it was a fairly good look for ponies despite not wanting to think on it further, less past ‘feelings’ were brought back up. He realised that he would be in a fairly uncompromising position if anything were to ‘appear’ in his lower regions, as a single pair of boxers can’t do much to hide the situation.

There was a rather awkward silence present over the room, whatever the two ponies were talking about was clearly not meant for human ears, that, or they just didn’t want to bore him. Rob on the other hand, was still somewhat reeling from his earlier encounter with the twins. Having sex, just like that, came as a shock. It wasn’t that he didn’t want it to happen, it was just that it hadn’t happened on his terms. He wondered how the people back home would react if they knew he’d screwed a pony. He laughed a little. For that matter, he still wondered why he was ok with it. His mind had a number of things to work out, and only time seemed able to fix them.

One consolation he had was that these ponies weren’t really ponies, not as he knew them anyway. In essence and form they were at best, similar, to those back home, but as beings, they were completely different, and already the human found himself preferring them to human company. Besides, the one qualm he had about going to Equestria, the one thing nagging at the back of his mind was what Twilight had brought up earlier. Never had he been in any sort of physical female relationship, and yet, he still found himself craving it. He had on Earth, and he was here. He worried that he would live a life in solitude, and without love. Now though, this resolve had cleared in his mind. Physical relationships were clearly ok, and he already felt a connection to the race of adorable little equines, even if it was only friendship for now. Soon enough, he could see himself developing romantic feelings for them, it was only a matter of time.

Snapping his mind out of its daze, he smiled at the two ponies in the steam room. They had been watching him sort through his mind, and had been kind enough not to interrupt. They did however return the smile, and eventually turned back to each other before nodding.

“Arc, we were thinking.” Rarity began to get his attention. “What are you going to do about work?”

The human blinked for a moment, starring at the two without an answer. “I… I hadn’t thought about it to be honest.”

“Well, we thought that for a while at least, you should try and get a job.” The pale mare replied.

“Well, I don’t really want to work, but I suppose it is expected.” He sighed.

The shy pegasus finally spoke up, pushing a hoof out in front of her in an effort to seem more assertive. “What was it you enjoyed doing back home? Maybe if we find something you enjoy, you won’t mind it as much…”

“Well Fluttershy,” He begun, “I was in college studying countryside management. I always wanted to work with nature. I’m a big fan of all the little animals and plants, and wanted to work in what we call ‘national parks’ back home, to preserve and protect them.” Her face lit up.

“Oooh, me too! That’s just like what I do! Just the other day I helped birth some little river otter cubs, it was beautiful! And the flowers all around my cottage, especially after winter wrap up, are so pretty! I’ll have to show you!”

Once again, Rob was shocked at the sudden outburst from the usually timid pegasus. Rarity seemed unphased by it, and continued looking down at her slowly wrinkling hooves. “Nice. You’ll have to show me sometime... Later. So yeah, that’s what I was aiming for. I suppose if I have to work, then something like that would be cool.”

Rarity spoke up again, turning her attention away from herself. “Well then, seems like we have an opportunity right in front of us; Fluttershy, could Arc help you at all?”

“I would love the help! But uh, I don’t think the animals would like that very much, it would be better if he got used to them a little bit first. They haven’t met a human before and…”

“Don’t worry Fluttershy, I understand, it’s all good, I wouldn’t want to impose or disrupt anything. That’d just make your life unnecessarily harder than I’m sure dealing with many animals already is. Any alternatives then Rarity?” He shifted his tone to her.

Using her unicorn magic she added some more water to the steam generator on the wall opposite her, eliciting a puff of steam from the contraption. Rob wondered if this place was actually some sort of sauna-steam room crossover. “Well, there’s Applejack who runs the farm. That might work for you and your line of work. There’ also Carrot Top, she runs the local allotments and sells fruit and vegetables in the market. She has the most delicious carrots in the whole of Ponyville, I would wholeheartedly recommend them. Other than that, you’re pretty much left with the flower trio.”

Rob shifted in his seat, for fear of getting a numb bum. The wood wasn’t exactly soft. “The flower trio?”

Rarity folded her legs underneath her in a different position, she must have been suffering a similar problem to him. “Yes, Daisy, Lily and Rose. They run a cute little establishment down by the lake called the ‘Pretty Petal Flower Shop’, the name says it all.”

“A nursery huh.”

“What? No, flowers, not children.” The white mare seemed confused.

“No ya’ silly girl. I’m talking about a plant nursery, not a day-care centre.”

Fluttershy chuckled a little at her friend’s naiveté before splaying her wings out, and letting some water trickle off the tips. She ruffled them a bit and set them down at her sides, squirming to find a comfier position. She did, and gave a content sigh, half closing her eyes.

Rob continued after watching the pegasus, “So then, a lake? Where is it?”

“You’re thinking of working there?”

“Well, it shouldn’t be that strenuous, I can handle the odd potted plant I’m sure. Trying to do Applejack’s farm work will kill me at the moment, and this Carrot Top… Nah. I’ve got nothing against the girl, but carrots? Not my style. So, look, don’t worry, no tough stuff.”

“I suppose, we just don’t want you overexerting yourself so soon after injuring yourself like that…”

“Too late for that…”

“That’s one overexerted peni-”

“Not another word. Besides, I could totally go again.”

“Pfft~”

“I’d be sad if you got hurt again…”

“Thanks, Fluttershy, and you too Rarity. But don’t worry, I’ll be careful, I won’t over work myself, trust me. I’m too lazy to go past my limits anyway.”

“Well then, I suppose after this we can show you where it is, I have time and I think Fluttershy does too. We usually only have lunch after this anyway. You have nothing else planned I presume?”

The human shook his head in response.

The two mares rose to their hooves, and used their towels to dry themselves somewhat, Rarity with her magic and Fluttershy with her mouth and fore hooves.

Setting the whole ‘magic’ thing aside, it was really Fluttershy who was the enigma in this scenario; The way she manipulated even the simplest of objects, with only her mouth and hooves so efficiently, and with such skill. It truly was a sight to behold. The way she bent to get every little gap, flexing her wings to pat herself off under them. The human was relatively impressed.

“Nope, nothing’s set in stone for me right now. Come to think of it, a job will give me things to do for once…”

“Wow, I’m a lazy fuck.”

Rob also rose to his feet and patted himself down with the towel, he didn’t know why, but the girls were, so he did too. The threesome left the steam room and said a few departing words to each other. And with that, they all headed separate directions to the baths, to finish up the eventful spa trip. On the way down the halls, Rob wondered why there was a division in the baths, but not the steam rooms, between males and females. He put it down to simply being something considered ‘normal’ in pony society, and didn’t question it further.

Ponyville Day Spa, Foyer:

Standing squeaky clean in the front of the spa was Equestria's only human. He, like many other males in this situation, was waiting for the females in his party to finish doing whatever they were doing and meet him. He knew he took long when washing, but they put him to shame. Something told him it was most likely down to Rarity. He was counting his blessing right now that Aloe and Lotus were nowhere to be seen. As if by luck, somepony had left his clothes, expertly cleaned, outside the baths for him, on a bench. He had slipped into them and ran at the first opportunity, waiting for Fluttershy and Rarity back at the entrance for a quick getaway.

Soon enough, the duo joined him and they moved to the exit with only a few estranged looks from the working spa ponies in the background. Lucky for Rob, when he used them, the baths had been empty, and therefore pony-human relations were thankfully put on hold. Rob didn’t know how much more ‘introducing’ he could do in one day.

“I suppose it is a working day right now, it would be pretty empty.”

“So, Arc, are you ready?” An eloquent voice spoke form beside him.

He looked over to Rarity and Fluttershy were looking straight at him, awaiting an answer.

“Huh, whaa? Yeah, I suppose so. Sorry, zoned out there for a minute. Lead the way guys.” Rob reached up to a stray bit of wet hair and brushed it away from his eyes.

“Pesky long hair.”

Ponyville, Southern Hills:

The sun was lowering on the horizon for the third time since Rob had been in Equestria. It marked the end of the day, and although there were still a few hours of daylight left, Rob felt a hum of disappointment. So far, he’d been tackled, mauled and treated like an outsider, despite the warm welcome from others. He glanced to the two ponies beside him and shamefully recalled Aloe and Lotus. Regardless, the change was becoming more difficult than he had thought, and this was something that weighed heavily on his mind. Maybe he just needed some rest. After visiting these mares, he would go home to Twilight’s and chat a little, be somewhat light-hearted, and then get a good night’s sleep.

Before too long, once again, Rob found himself on the outskirts of Ponyville. Usually it was about here when things became bad in one way or another; Creepy Applejack stalking and mind-rape came to the forefront of his head.

The walk had been fairly short and they had finally ended up in a valley of some sorts, the walk had been downhill for a while now. Hills were abundant and came from god knows where, they sort of just appeared, as was Equestria's physiology – sporadic. Nestled within the hills were various lakes and ponds, all joined up by the various paths running through the area, and Rob was beginning to lose track of where he was. The sky was tinted a beautiful orange hue, and this shimmer reflected off the lakes, illuminating the hills all around in a warm glow, the human was amazed at the sight, it was spectacular.

“Well Arc, here we are.” The yellow pegasus stated from down to his left.

Without realising it, the human found himself in front of a shop adorned with flowers; hibiscus, roses mixed in with ivy, pansies in pots, shrubs of all sizes, all taken care of brilliantly. The little shop was on the shores of one of the larger lakes, and had a number of greenhouses dotted around it. It glistened in the evening sun.

“I could live here, this place is sexy.”

The slight breeze made all the plants sway, and Rob continued to take in the sight. He could definitely see himself working here.

He looked up, squinting as the sun blinded him. Above the shop was an ornate banner which read “Pretty Petal Flower Shop”, it too was swaying gently. The whole place was serene. Through a window, Rob spotted somepony working away busily and heard a gentle hum, carried along on the wind. As he got closer, some singing began to flow through the air, greeting them as they arrived; It was a sombre tune.

I lost myself last night, I lost myself in you,
Your world is a chamber,
I walk into your room, I wish this was my tomb,
You're pure,
Burning slowly, she's sleeping softly,
Your mind is a stranger,
If this is comfort, a mutual feeling,
I'm falling, myself.

“Well that’s depressing… You could have picked a happier song…”

The trio walked up to the already open door, and Rarity knocked, rapping three times with her hoof. The sound must have startled the singer, as she stopped and spun on the spot, jumping at the sound and stopping what she was doing.

“Holy shit! My eyes! Too! Fucking! Bright!”

Rob was greeted by quite the sight, a fluorescent magenta coat and a lime green mane, adorned to a rather shocked looking pony. She was standing side on, with her head turned towards them, and from this, Rob could see her cutie mark; two daisies. She had spring green eyes and a curled mane. She was standing still, very still, and had a watering can in her mouth.

“Ok, the watering can makes it cute!”

“Uh, hi?” The human started. The pony jumped again and the watering can fell to the floor.

Rarity pushed forward, making herself the dominant figure in the room. She did have the air for it, Rob gave her that.

“Darling, we’re just here to talk business, do calm down.”

“Oh Rarity!” The pony began, as if the words were just bubbling out of her, “Did the carnations I sold you the other day die already?” She shook her head. “The warmer weather the pagasi have been bringing in has been wilting them quicker than usual…”

“No, dear, they’re fine. We’re actually here to introduce you, Rose and Lily, to Arc here.” She gestured with a flippant hoof to the human behind her, still in the doorway.

Once again, the pony’s attention drifted from Rarity back to the creature in the entrance, her demeanour too, changed, from happy to suspicious.

“This mare is random, Pinkie is ‘crazy’ random, this one is just… ‘distracted’ random…”

“And I suppose this is Arc, huh?” She spoke with a sinister tone in her voice.

“Yes Daisy, this is Arc, do say “hi”, won’t you?”

“He doesn’t mean any harm does he…?”

Rarity raised an eyebrow, “You think I’d bring him here if he did?”

The magenta pony relaxed somewhat, “No, I suppose not. Sorry, but I’ve just never seen one of him before… What is he?”

“I am goddamn here you know! Tch, I swear ponies always try to be kind, and yet they are so insulting sometimes without even realising it! I’m gonna go cry now!”

“Well,” The human began, walking forward to the mare with his eyes half closed and his head tilted high, “I, my dear, am a human!” He took long strides to accentuate his presence.

Another voice was heard from behind Daisy, coming from what appeared to be a store room in the back of the shop, “Human? Human! Where, why is it here?! Daisy, I am NOT coming out until you get rid of it!”

The pony in question turned and shouted back through the door. “And why is that my job? I swear Lily, you overreact way too much sometimes! Just get your flank out of there and say “hi”, stop being so dramatic!” She turned back to the human and his two pony friends. “Sorry, she gets like this sometimes…” She ended with a chuckle.

“I gotta give the girl credit, that went from awkward, to really awkward, to light-hearted in a matter of seconds. How the hell did she do that?”

Daisy walked forward to the human, as a second pony appeared from a doorway further back, and offered a hoof, some kind of peace treaty to the ‘evil’ human he suspected.

“Sorry about all of that, my name’s Daisy and this,” She pointed to a pink pony with a sandy coloured mane who had appeared behind her, “Is Lily. She’s a little skittish.”

The new pony stepped forward, but stayed well behind Daisy. Along with her sandy mane and pink body, she had yellow eyes and a lily tucked behind her left ear. On her flank were three lilies. Similar to Daisy, she seemed to be themed after flowers, a fitting thing for a florist.

Rob took Daisy’s hoof and gently shook it, to which she smiled. This however did not alleviate the worry of the pony behind her.

“One down!”

The human then decided that he’d better get on all the ponies good sides, for any chance of working in the garden centre/florists, and this meant becoming friends with the feral looking one back a bit from Daisy. He stepped around the magenta pony and approached the one behind her, who promptly backed herself up towards the wall, eyes widening in the process.

“Don’t worry, babe, I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“Great, creepy pedophile mode activated… Nice going Arc.”

“Hey! I’ve started referring to myself as ‘Arc’!”

“Stay back! I don’t want any trouble!” The pony was now up against the wall, and still had a human getting ever closer to her, looming over her darkly, he was now just above her.

“Lily was it? Look, I just wanna say “hello”, ok?”

She was pretty stricken, and Rob could see her little chest heaving up and down quickly. He reached towards her and stooped to her level, crossing his legs as he sat down.

“Sweet god. I feel so patronising right now…”

Trembling slightly, the mare raised a hoof to defend herself from whatever the human was going to do. She closed her eyes and felt him brush his hand along her forearm before tugging, and prying her from the wall. She squeaked and felt her head bury into something soft. She tried to open her eyes but found she could only see darkness. Being in a closed space, she was getting warm and her breathing quickened again. She panicked for a moment while the human held her steady, and through it all, she thought she smelled… The spa?

Pushing back, she was able to raise her head, and found herself in the clutches of the human. Surprisingly, he cupped a hand over her head and started stroking her behind the ears in a soft motion. This was just as nice for her as it was for him, and she started nuzzling back.

“D’awww, they’re so soft! I love it!”

Fluttershy chuckled, while Rarity seemed used to Rob’s antics by now, and simply shook her head from side to side. Daisy seemed shocked, but happy, that her friend was finally calming down, albeit, due to a rather unorthodox method.

“Ok, treat the pony like a kitten and gain her trust: Success… I think.”

From Lily’s perspective, she was being cradled in the arms of the strange being, who was actually being rather gentle, and looking down at her with compassionate eyes… and a rather creepy grin.

“I-I’m sorry, I may have misjudged you. I, uh, have a habit of jumping to conclusions… Will you accept my apology and let me go?”

“Well, I don’t know… I may just have to eat you.”

“Just like Lotus!”

“DAMNIT BRAIN, why!”

Another expression of panic graced her face but was quickly gone when she started laughing, causing a wave of laughter to ripple through the building. It was nice that everypony had finally come to terms with the bizarre situation. Rob did feel sorry for them though; it wasn’t every day that an unknown life form strolls through your front door.

“Just like Aloe!”

“Brain… FUCK YOU! I did NOT stroll through Aloe’s front door!”

“Kinda did…”

“Hello Celestia…”

“Hi Arc!”

“Goodbye Celestia…”

“See ya Arc!”

A few small pleasantries were made, and the group finally got to know each other reasonably well, as far as introductions were concerned anyway. Rob put Lily down and stood back up, intent on listening to the other ponies converse, seeing what insight he could gain into things.

The two flowers, had known Rarity and Fluttershy for a long time, Rarity had been buying flowers from the shop for years now, and Fluttershy had learnt all she knew about plants from frequently visiting the shop after she first arrived in Ponyville. She’d always had a way with animals, but flowers she had to learn about. Being the ‘nature queen’ comes with a little hard work it seems.

The group’s frivolous discussion was soon broken when a new pony voice was heard from outside, calling into the shop, “Girls, I’m back, and I have news, there’s a human in town! And I’ve just seen him head-” She soon stopped speaking, as she finally entered the building and saw her friends conversing with said human. “Huh, I guess you already know.”

Lily spoke up, “Rose, this is-”

“Arc,” she finished, “I know.”

The human in question piped up. “Mind if I ask, how, you know?”

A shy blush tinted the mares face. “I, uh, I was the one who called out in the crowd earlier, surprised that you speak...”

“Ahh, so you were at my mob character assassination speech! Great, this’ll make things much easier.”

Rob observed the pony before him; she was more attractive than the other two, in his opinion anyway, although, to be honest, he was wondering why he’d begun to look at ponies in such a way, anyway. She had a two tone mane, dark red and rose coloured, which curled around her face. She was an earth pony, like the other two, and surprise, surprise, had a cutie mark on her flank in the shape of a rose. Her coat was a light cream colour and her eyes were a soft green.

“Right, ok. Let’s cut to the chase.” Rarity began. “We’re here because Arc needs a part time job.”

“A job? With us?” Rose replied, walking behind a counter and resting her front hooves upon it.

Rob joined her and hopped up onto the counter, sitting upon it. “Yeah, we were talking, and these two,” He pointed at the white unicorn and the yellow pegasus, “Informed me of this place. I’ve got a couple of injuries and can’t do heavy lifting or stressful work, but I do know a fair bit about plants, trees and flowers, so we thought here would be a good place to start the search.”

“Think what a human would do for business!” Daisy interjected, receiving dirty looks from Rose in the process.

“He’s not just a bargaining chip Daisy, it’s not all about the profit remember? We do this because we love the work!”

“Don’t start pulling your mane out Rose, I know all that, but a little extra income couldn’t hurt right?”

You know Rose, she is right. If he needs a job, and helps us out, then the extra publicity can only be a good thing.” The third flower joined the debate.

“I feel used…”

“Please stop arguing…” A light voice from the yellow pegasus spoke.

Rarity nudged her side and reassured her, “Dear, this is just squabbling, not arguing. I do it with my sister all the time.”

“You have a sister Rarity?”

“Arc, not now…”

“Right, hey, girls! Look, this bickering is great and all, but I’m going to be unable to work for another reason if you don’t stop arguing, the ravages of time will completely erase my body from existence. This is just taking that goddamn long. So, girls, a simple yes or no answer is fine.”

The three surprisingly all stopped and turned to face him, blank expressions on their faces, they all seemed stunned by his vocal eruption. That is, until they all smiled and said “Yes!” in unison.

“But,” Rose began. “We’ll need to go through a number of things first.” She walked back around the counter and extended a hoof to the human.

“I expected no less.” He grasped her hoof in response, and shook.

The next half an hour was a small training session for Arc, Rose went through all the basics of store management, plant care, and even told him which flowers needed special attention. She showed him all of the greenhouses individually and told him about their specifics. She showed him how the sales were done, and what a few of the prices were for certain things. She also gave him a sheet with the price list on it, in case he couldn’t remember, or got confused. Things were pretty basic, and Rob was sure he could handle it. Besides, when it came to the plants, he already knew quite a lot about them.

When the session was over, Rose went through with him how much he’d get paid, and when he could have breaks. Luckily enough, she said the shop was often fairly quiet, and therefore gave him a lax schedule to follow. He could have breaks when he wanted, providing one of the girls was also in the store to take care of any of the customers that might have appeared, and said that if he wasn’t going to be in, then he should let her know in advance unless it’s an emergency. Being a temporary job, and part time work, he was set to come in on only three days of the week, giving him four to do with what he wanted. Rose agreed that she’d pay him by the hour and gave him a run through of the Equestrian currency system when he told her he didn’t know it. It was fairly simple, much like in RPG games back on Earth, gold, silver and copper coins. The breakdown was also fairly simple, the largest being gold, worth one hundred, silver being worth ten and copper, one. There were also various notes, which represented larger values of money, these were primarily used for bulk purchases, or large ones, houses and private carriages and such.

After that Rose and Rob joined back up with Rarity, Fluttershy, Daisy and Lily in the main section of the shop. For the first time, Rob took note of the surroundings, the interior was deceptively small, mainly due to there being many troughs or rows of plants lining the floor on raised platforms. Being of ‘quaint’ design, as far as Rob could tell, there were rafters, and from them hung many different ivies and vines, draping down over the top half of the walls, giving the shop a highly natural look. There was a section near the back of the shop with gardening products, and next to that, a door, namely, the one Lily had walked through earlier. Off to the left from the front, was a counter with a till on it and on the right wall, there were simply more plants. The shop itself had a high ceiling and many windows, some looked out over the hills and some the lake, like much of the area, this place was also very beautiful.

Rob looked over to the ponies that were deep in conversation about… Most likely something unimportant, and started walking towards them with Rose at his side, stepping in from the outdoors. Fluttershy noticed him and smiled gently as a breeze caught her mane and pulled it across her face. She blushed slightly and broke the eye contact before sneezing.

“… … …”

“Resist, man. Come on, you can do it.”

“Bless you.”

“Nice work!”

“Um, thank you. So is, umm, everything ok?”

“Yes thanks Fluttershy, seems I got a job! Me and Rose have a few things worked out now, so all is good with the world.”

“’Rose and ‘I’ dear.”

“Don’t make me hurt you Rarity.”

“Yes well, Rose, if I get back here for what? Nine in the morning? Will that be ok?”

“I look forward to it.” She and the human smiled at each other.

“Cool! So yeah, it’s getting dark, should we head back now or something?”

“Alright, I’ll take you back to Twilight’s and then take Fluttershy back home too.”

“Rarity, I can get back by myself…”

“Nonsense dear, I don’t mind. Besides, the chat will be fun.”

“Rarity, I can’t get back by myself…” Rob tried to imitate Fluttershy.

“I know, that’s why I’m going to take you.”

“Not the response I was going for, but whatever… Big sister mode must have kicked in.”

“Well then you guys, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Bye Arc!” The three flowers shouted in unison, waving their front hooves as the trio left the shop, and headed down the path, back in the direction of Ponyville.

Daisy turned to the other two, “Well, he sure is interesting.”

“I know!” The pink mare started, “Just wait until I tell the mares at the coffee shop in the morning!”

“I can’t see this ending well…”

Twilight’s Library:

“So you had a good day then?”

“I’ve had an… interesting day, to say the least. But you know; got a job, got out of hospital and been to a spa, it’s been tiring more than anything to be honest.” Rob rubbed his head and slumped down onto the sofa, letting out a sigh as he did.

Arc was now back in the library, with only Twilight and Spike for company, he’d been back for about fifteen minutes and the sun had finally set. Fluttershy and Rarity had headed home after depositing him on the doorstep, and he was now finally able to relax for the rest of the day, what was left of it anyway.

“I really need to thank those girls; they’ve stuck by me the whole day.”

He was snapped out of his thoughts by Twilight speaking to him in a hushed tone. He guessed that Spike had already gone to bed.

“So you start work tomorrow?”

“I do. Rose said I could turn up around nine. I know what I’ve gotta do, so that’s all good. The only problem I can foresee is me actually getting there. I have no clue how to get back to the shop, which, yeah, could be a problem considering I’m meant to like, ya know, be there.”

“I have a map if you want? It details all the main locations in Ponyville, and accurately shows everything up to the one mile of surrounding area.” She gave a large grin as she hopped excitedly up to a bookshelf trying to find said map. “It’s amongst one of these books somewhere…”

Rob never heard her find it though, as before too long, he was asleep on the sofa, in a peaceful state of relaxation. He had clumsily slumped to the side and when Twilight had found him, she had laid him down using her magic, and draped his legs over the end, chuckling to herself the entire time. Before dimming the lights, she had brought him a blanket and placed it over his still form, leaving him alone for the night. She had then proceeded up to bed herself, taking care not to disturb Spike on the way. She whispered “Goodnight,” and then lay down to go to sleep, snuggling up in her duvet as she did.