Harem Alliance

Fired.

It's not like she'd intended for all of those zebras to pull her away from her work. She couldn't even just let it happen while she was doing her work. There were kids in the store, and she would be breaking the law if one turned down her aisle and saw what they were doing. Plus, their mother would have a fit and start throwing things at her. Turnips hurt, and canned beans were even worse.

Not just their mothers, either. What would her own mother say when she found out she'd been fired? She'd already been disappointed when she'd accepted the job, saying it wasn't a real job, it was just putting things on shelves; that was something somepony half her age could do. She'd called it a "nothing job," a "task masquerading as a job," and a "waste of effort." To find out that she'd failed a task so simple that even her little brother could do it...

She shook her head. She needed some air.

Turning her path to walk through a gate, she found herself in Pine Park, a patch of land two blocks by two blocks, right in the middle of the city, acting as a public leisure epicenter. It was a nice place, with a few small buildings specifically for outdoor activities. There were two pairs of heated restrooms, one on either corner of the park, a stage that was admittedly tagged with graffiti, and a stack of wooden bleachers for the adjacent buckball field.

But she was after none of these destinations. She didn't want to watch a game that wasn't being played right now, or sit in front of the stage which wasn't even showing anything at the moment. What she wanted was to disappear into the trees that the park was named for, and just think to herself for a moment.

A small stream ran through the trees, and there were some ponies playing by it. Some fillies and colts were splashing about, a few families were out for picnics to enjoy the nice weather, and more than a few mares and stallions were there to just lay on the grass. But Heaps didn't want to hang around strangers and spill her problems to them. Through the trees, she found herself a secluded spot. It was no secret, it just wasn't often visited. When it was, it was most often by ponies that wanted to be alone with their thoughts.

The trees around the area were very thick, and that provided a nice bit of sound-proofing. It was one of the quietest places in the whole city. When she was little, and was first introduced to this place, it was terrifying. She'd grown up in the city, and it was always loud. This place, this clearing among the trees was so quiet that it felt entirely empty. And that made it special.

She sat down on a trimmed log that had been placed here by a couple of teenagers that had deemed this place deserving of a seat. Most ponies that came here sat in the same general area, leading to the bark being stripped away in that one spot. Finally, she was alone, and could think.

Or so she thought. As she was contemplating what kind of job she could possibly beg for, having just been fired for gross unprofessionalism, she heard a rustling in the branches approaching her. She scooted off to one side, thinking it was somepony else needing a quiet place to sit and think about their troubles in a safe environment. A somber humming followed, as if they weren't expecting somepony to already be here, but they approached, anyway, their hoofbeats the only sound outside of the twittering of the birds.

"Have a seat," she sighed. "I won't be long."

"It might be longer than you suspect," answered the stallion. "Are you ready to have your pussy wrecked?"

She groaned. Another damned zebra...

"You can probably sue for that, you know..."

Heaps nodded. "Oh, I plan to. That's not what I was worried about, though. It's my mom. What am I going to do, Silver?"

Silver Lining wrapped his hoof around her shoulders. "I'm going to tell you something, and I need you to promise that you won't be mad. Can you promise that?"

"No. But I promise I won't hit you."

"Good enough." He took a deep breath. "Your mom's a bitch."

"That's not funny," she chuckled. "That's my mom you're talking about."

"Doesn't make it any less true. Who cares what she thinks? You're better than she gives you credit for."

"I care what she thinks. I want to have kids someday, and I want my kids to have a good relationship with their grandmother."

"They will, deary." They turned around, and Silver Lining's mom, Golden Ticket, stepped out onto the balcony with a tray of pink lemonade. "Brought you something to drink."

"Thanks, mom," smiled Silver, accepting the glass as she turned and went back inside.

"Thanks, Mrs. Ticket. And thanks again for letting me use your shower..."

"See, there?" smirked Silver. "Our kids will have a wonderful grandmother."

"Just one? Most colts and fillies have two."

"Most of them have two grandfathers, too. How do you plan on fixing that one?"

Heaps lowered her head. "I'm sorry. I really liked your dad. He was a nice stallion."

"I forgive you..."

For a few minutes, they just stood there on the balcony, drinking their pink lemonade while watching the sunset.

It was Heaps who broke the silence. "You haven't asked me how much."

"How much you made in coupon collection?"

She nodded.

"Well, part of me was afraid to ask. We've been dating for almost a year, now, and I know I want to be with you when we're both adults, but... When you said you had a lot of zebras inside of you, I figured that hearing the exact number would call the memory back into your head, and I'd rather we moved on."

"Twenty-one stallions."

Silver winced.

"Nineteen of those were zebras, and eighteen of them actually paid with a coupon. Pine Park was particularly busy today."

"I almost feel sickened for you..."

"Nine thousand bits."

He turned and glanced at her. "Pardon me?"

"Not counting my last paycheck and the hefty severance package I'm going to receive as a result of the wrongful termination suit, today, I made nine thousand bits. Eighteen coupons worth five hundred each; that's quite a hefty sum."

"Not to mention your savings, and my own..."

"And you still have a job at the bakery."

"But I don't work tomorrow," he nodded. "Do you want to go look at houses in the morning?"

She smiled. "I would."