Equestria Handyman

As the train station was slowly filled with activity from passengers disembarking from the 10: 30 am train, a particular pink mare with mane and tail stripped in the colors of Pale Yellow, Bright Pink, and Purple, matching wings with a bright pink to purple gradient and a long horn made her way out of the carriage carrying her luggage as she advances to the entrance where an eager Twilight was waiting for her. She was wearing a blue long sweater, light purple toga and golden regalia that denoted her royal status.

“Cadence!” Twilight calls before approaching her to give her a hug

“Twily” Cadence rush to her as well until they were next to one another

“Sunshine, Sunshine, ladybugs awake, clap your hands and do a little shake”
“Sunshine, Sunshine, ladybugs awake, clap your hands and do a little shake”

They say simultaneously doing a little routine of their own before chuckling and hugging each other.

“I’m so glad you came to visit.”

“But of course, I always love spending time with you Twily.” Cadence messes with her mane a little. “We have so much to catch on, especially with that little herd of yours, you naughty girl, should I be expecting a little niece pretty soon?” She teases, causing her to giggle and swat her hand away due to her embarrassment.

“Cadence! Flashy me and Moondancer are still not thinking thoughts like that yet.” She replies with a big blush. Making Cadence to chuckle again.

“Just messing with you a little.”

“Oh just you wait Cadence I have a whole schedule ahead of us for these two weeks! We all gonna a have a lot of fun.”

“I’m sure we will.” Her expression suddenly turned mischievous before getting closer to her. “And you know who, doesn’t know I’m here yet?”

“Nope, he is completely clueless.” Twilight shakes her head matching her expression “Would you like to go pay him a visit now?”

“After the letter you sent me, I have been dying to talk with him again, there is much we need to catch up on as well.” They both giggle with some mischief in the atmosphere as they leave the train station.

Meanwhile at the apple farm Mark had to stop moving barrels when he suddenly felt a chill running down his spine.

“Is everything alright partner?” A yellow blond mare with a long mane combed into a ponytail, a stetson hat, a red dotted shirt on top of a white one tied in a knot in the front, that barely contains her double D size breasts, as well as show her muscular yet slim torso and Daisy Duke cut jeans asks him with a raised eyebrow as she stops loading the barrels of apples into a nearby cart to go sell them at the market.

“I’m…not so sure Applejack, I simply had this cold chill going through my back just a moment ago.” He responds unsure of what was happening before resuming his work “Eh it’s probably nothing”

“I wouldn’t take those kinds of chills lightly, partner.” Applejack tells him with a worried tune. “As far as we know, you might be coming down with something.” She secures the last barrel before focusing her attention on Mark. “We are pretty much done here anyway, why don’t you go home and hit the hay for a while just to be on the safe side.”

“Oh come on AJ, now you are overreacting, it's not like I’m getting the flu or something, I just had a bad feeling that’s all.”

“And that is better because…?” She waves her wrist in a circle while looking at him with a raised eyebrow, cornering him into a spot until he rolls his eyes. “Ok you got me there”

“I’m just saying, Ponyville isn’t exactly a quiet town partner, if you’re feeling something bad coming, the best thing to do is try to just wait until it passes by.”

“Fine, I will take your advice and will go home, happy?”

“If it means you stay safe, eeyup” She chuckles and waves him goodbye. “I will come visit later with some apple soup, just in case. Stay safe, partner!” AJ calls as he nods and leaves the premises.

I really hope that there really is nothing to worry, partner, me and the rest of the town can handle Ponyville’s usual craziness, but I’m not sure you could.

Applejack kept pointing until he was out of sight before sighing and heading to the farmers market with her cart full of apples.

As Mark kept walking down the dirty road he had to stop briefly, and look around his surroundings the moment he felt that someone was watching him, turning the corner he starts to speed up his march. Yet the sensation of eyes on him didn’t seem to be fading and instead he starts to hear bushes shaking in the near distance putting him more on edge. Finally finding his opening once he saw the entrance to the everfree forest. Making a sharp turn in a U he dived inside to confuse his chaser and soon jumped from tree to tree until he found himself in the top of a particularly bulky one hiding himself from view as he awaited his chaser. Something that fortunately didn’t take long as the hooded figure appeared from the path he had taken before stopping and looking around confused when they couldn’t find any trace of Mark.

Taking the chance Mark gets down from the tree making sure the figure didn’t see him and circles around them before pouncing on them, grabbing their arm and putting them in a head lock as he grabs their neck with their free hand and presses them against a tree.

“Ok buddy, time to talk, why are you following…?” Mark added pressure on the arm but stopped and had to do a double take when all of the sudden the figure voiced a femenine moan of pleasure and arched her head backward catching him off guard and making him release the hooded figure from the surprise alone.

Before he could say or do anything else, the figure reveals a pair of yellow wings from her back and flies away as fast as she can, leaving him perplexed and blinking repeatedly.

What in the hell just happened? Who was that figure, that voice and that color wings…there is something familiar about it.

Shaking his head he decided to not dwell too much about it and resumed his trip back home.

Applejack was right, I shouldn’t take those kind of chills lightly, I just hope the worst is over.

He sighs as his home/shop gets in view and to his pleasant surprise none other than Milky was waiting for him at the counter, immediately improving his mood.

“Milky.”

“Hello handsome.” She greeted him and, not wasting time Mark went to her and grabbed her sides, and spun her around making them chuckle as she hugged him back and they shared a kiss. “I’m so glad to see you, why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

“That is why it is called a surprise visit dummy.” She replied with a wink making him chuckle as he put her down gently. “Ok you got me there.”

“And I must say.” Milky looks around the shop. “I never would have imagined a handyman and a hardware store would look so similar” She says admiring the shelves with all sorts of construction tools, materials and even pieces of wood.

“Nah all of this is mainly owned by Mr. Nail, and Ms. Plank” Mark quickly replied with a dismissive hand gesture. “I simply help with the store while renting their guest room on the second floor. Kind of like what Pinkie does.”

“So you are also working half time here?”

“Kind of, my number and business details are at the front door and counter” He says pointing at said ads on both the front door and behind the counter. “So when ponies come here they can find me if they need any help on their projects, this place is the best spot to find clients that need the help of a handyman, and on slow days I mainly help customers carry wood, or other materials to their carts.”

“Sounds more like you are an additional service the store offers rather than a separate entity, wouldn’t it be better having a shop of your own so your services are more easy to spot?”

Mark could only chuckle and scratch the back of his head “Heh maybe but I wouldn’t even know where or how to start one. I mean what would a handyman store even look like? I can do pretty much any job, especially if it involves physical labor, how do I present that? Like an office maybe?”

“That could be an option.” She then leans forward. “And I would be more than happy to help you set it up, as a successful business mare myself.” She replies playfully. “It will give us a lot of time to spend together.”

“I’m liking the idea more and more.” He replies with the same bedroom eyes as they hug each other once more, and are about to kiss when Mark suddenly feels someone was watching and looking to his right he saw both Cadence and Twilight grinning ear to ear at the show in front of them, much to the couple's surprise and confusion.

“Don’t stop! Keep going” Cadence instructed in excitement, ignoring how awkward she just made everything.

“Y-your Highnesses!” Milky exclaims on alert and quickly ends the hug to bow to the two royals in the store.

“Good day Princesses, welcome to nails and planks. How may I help you?” Mark follows along and greets them both as potential clients much to their surprise and/or annoyance.

“Mark, I told you not to use titles with me.” Twilight reproaches.

“Or me.” Cadence follows suit placing her hands on her hips. ” And don’t try to play coy with me mister, I have a bone to pick with you right now. How was it that I had to find out you got yourself a special somepony from Twilight? I thought we had a deal!” She points at him with an accusing finger and a hurt expression.

“Y…you are friends with royalty?” Milky questions Mark in surprise.

“I kept in contact with the sisters yeah, and it's a bit of a long story but I did spend a couple of years in the castle where I met Cadence at some point.” Mark quickly replied before looking at the princess “And ok I’m sorry for not telling you Pri…”

“AH!” She screeches in annoyance.

“Mia…”

“Say it and die” She warns him again.

With a reluctant sigh he just rolled his eyes “Cadence, I’m sorry for not telling you, ok? But you kind of go overboard when it comes to playing matchmaker and I didn’t want you to spook Milky by doing something like a surprise visit to meet her.”

“I wouldn’t have done that”

“Really? Then you travel all the way here to buy wood?”

“…fine you got me, but you could have at the very least told me you where ready to enter the dating world.”

“I was gonna tell you eventually, I swear!”

“When?”

“Preferably a day you weren’t busy being a princess, and too late for you to start sending me into blind dates the very first day”

“By the stars, are you still holding a grudge about my little white lie? I only wanted to help you loosen up a bit and see that mares could be beautiful!”

“It's kind of a big step Cadence! You could have been more delicate about it, instead of just tricking me into going into that strip club!”

“S-Strip club?! What?” Milky eyes wide as she looks back at Cadence. “Ah excuse me, but why are you so interested in my coltfriend's love life?” She asks while hugging Mark and looks at Cadence suspiciously.

“I apologize if my actions were and are a bit invasive.” Cadence replied in genuine shame. “It is just love is something that I simply treasure and adore seeing it being nurtured and grown, and can’t help but wishing to see and hear the result of my work.”

Mark smiles and nods. “Don’t be so harsh with her honey, Cadence is just too passionate with her title at times, and well I still owe her for helping me see women in Equestria in a brand new light and relaxed to the idea of dating.” He lifts her chin so Milky could look at his eyes “In a way it is thanks to her that I manage to find you.” He gives her a small peck on the lips helping her relax and calm down, despite the high pitch glee coming from the Princesses in front of them.

“And Cadence I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, you’re right I should have, I owe it to you. But hey, everything was resolved in the end. I found that special somepony, and I will be more than happy to introduce you.” He steps besides Milky so both mares could face each other and with a gesture points at one another. “Milky, this is a very good friend of mine that helped me not be scared of entering the dating game Princess Cadence, but don’t use the title she is kind of allergic to it.”

“Hey!” Cadence reproaches, while Twilight only giggles.

“And Cadence, let me introduce you to Milky Way…” He grabs her hand and looks at her with dreamy eyes “…my marefriend.”

“Nice to meet you.” Miky plays along and extends her hand in front of Cadence who completes the gestures “It’s always a pleasure meeting more of Mark's friends.”

“Likewise” Cadence relaxed and decided to follow their example with a smile, before starting to get excited while looking at both of them “And allow me to say you two just look so cute together! How long have you been dating?”

“Oh I think this is like our third month?”

“Fourth, actually remember? We have Lyra and Bon Bon’s baby shower tomorrow.” Milky corrected him.

“Right, right my mistake but don’t worry mom, I have been a complete gentleman and we didn’t do anything until we were both ready.” Mark joked around smirking at Cadence.

“Oh I’m sure you did sweetie, you were always the shyest of all the colts in the playground” Cadence counter patted his cheeks lightly.

“Well played.” Mark finally replies pushing her hand away as all the mares share a laugh

“But all jokes aside, tell me more? Please tell me your story. How did you two meet? Where was your first date? Is it too late to suggest some herd candidates?”

“Cadence! You are doing it again!”

“Oh please, please, please just this once” She practically begged them to give in by giving them THE puppy dog eyes.

The couple looks at her unsure before looking at one another for help not sure how to respond.

That Afternoon

“…And after that we kind of stayed in contact and sort of started this long distant relationship.” Mark finishes the story on how they meet, as the group continue to enjoy a treat in a coffee shop near town hall.

“Aww, that is so adorable!” Cadence claps her hands together with a giant grin both from hearing the story and manages to convince the two of telling it after some more coaching. “And a bit sad, are you really ok with being separated that long? Only able to talk, thru your scrolls and meet twice or thrice a month? I’m sure I would be jumping the bones of my dear Shining Armor by the third day apart.”

The comment makes Twilight have a double take and almost spit her drink, while looking at her sister in law with a blush. “Cadence please! That is my brother we are talking about, couldn’t you spare me the details?”

“Oh trust me Twily, I did” She replies with a dreamy smile into the void.

“A…Anyway, to answer your question, we are pretty much ok Cadence.” Mark replies. “We simply like to take things slow.”

“Well…” Milky confesses, looking away much to Mark's surprise and horror.

“M-M-Milky” He stutters slowly reaching for her shoulder as she quickly looks at him.

“Don’t worry! Is nothing bad! I’m with you on taking things slow and I love how much patience you had and wanted to know me better until we jumped into anything physical! It's just…”

“Just what? Milky…am I doing something wrong or that is making you uncomfortable?” Mark grabs one of her hands and to his relief she places her other hand on top of it.

“No, in fact it is me who is worrying about placing you in a difficult position.” She looks away trying to come up with the right words. “Is not that I don’t love you, I do, I really do. You have been nothing but kind and patient and supportive, there is absolutely no other stallion I would want to be with. You are the only one in my eyes, Marky.”

He smiles in understanding and grabs her other hand.

“Whatever it is we will figure it out together Milky I will be right beside you.” He then goes and kisses her forehead to ease her worries a bit, succeeding in calming her down before she takes a deep breath and prepares.

“I would have preferred doing this differently but…” Milky takes a glance at Princess Cadence. “…Well if anyone could explain things better and give us some advice am I right?”

“You have my word.” Cadence quickly nodded in understanding of what Milky was talking about.

“Ok here it goes, Marky I know how you are still getting used to our costumes and tradition so we can always pause this conversation for when you are ready but I think…I’m ready, it's time we have the herd talk.”

Everything went silent as soon as Milky said those words. Mark kept smiling at him before finally turning his head to the side in confusion “The, what now?” That is the only thing he could ask before hearing an incredibly high pitched squeal from the Princess of Love herself that cracks a nearby window as he glares at her. "Sorry, sorry I couldn't help it, by all the stars it is happening!" She can barely contain her excitement.