It had been a few days since the Courier had offered to babysit Dinky.

He regretted it every second after he said he’d do it.

No matter what he was doing, be it working on his house, hunting for fish in the nearby stream, or checking his growing crops (the potatoes were doing well!) he found his mind being tugged back to it.

But he never canceled.

In all that time, not once did he track down Derpy and say ‘Hey, I don’t wanna babysit your loin-spawn, please find someone else!’ He just stuck to his word, accepted his fate.

Even went to the meetup yesterday, where Doctor Whooves (Derpy was out running mail) explained to him the do’s and don’ts of babysitting the little filly. Pointed out her favorite snacks, explained her bedtime, what time he should be there, and blah blah blah.

The human did remember it, but he knew how to babysit. It was as simple as making sure the kid didn't die... An easy feat!

At least the trip into town allowed him to get another pack of cigarettes!

Camel branded, with a large camel wearing sunglasses on the front. He didn’t know if that counted as an equine or not, but to be fair there were also dragons here. They tasted fresher than the ones from the Mojave at least.

He’d worked with Applejack once or twice, Rarity too, helped her get another small batch of gems. She said her work was coming along nicely. Said she wanted him to meet Smolder sometime in the future, after the dresses and such were done.

He just finished up his log shack in the time since. It was small, only a foot higher than the top of his head, having about eight logs stacked on top of each other. The roof was made up of long, sturdy sticks and wooden shingles in a triangular arch. He knew the houses back in Goodsprings and the like had a roof-design like that, which helped keep out the rare instances of rain.

Still, he managed to migrate all of his loot from the hollowed-out tree and into the shack, so now he had a relatively safe spot for it. He even made himself a small bed on the inside, of planks and dried leaves. It was… as comfortable and as soft as you could imagine. It provided rest though, and that’s what mattered.

The garden was slow. Only a few days since he'd started it, after all. He made sure to put some fresh fish heads into it, let it compost all together and grow. He even planted some maize too, just to see if it’d stick.

It was past midday now, and he finally decided to venture forth to Ponyville, as his Pip-Boy dinged a few times due to the alarm he’d set as a reminder.

Trek was normal, unexciting.

By this point when he entered, less of the locals fled from him. It felt like they’d grown accustomed to him wandering into and through the town every other day or so.

He still felt strange at the normalcy.

The lack of fights, the lack of criminals and murderers, the lack of monsters, (minus the Bugbear) it all didn’t gel well with him.

It’s alright though, in about a week or so he’d finally have his damned meeting with the damned princess, and from there he could leave…

He was going to be able to leave.

The human didn’t quite think about what exactly he’d do if he couldn’t leave.

No reason to do that! It was an impossibility, surely!

He shoved the thoughts aside as he reached Derpy’s house. She was already sitting out front waiting for him, Dinky at her side, he heard her in the middle of a conversation with her daughter.

“-now remember, you be nice to mister Six, alright,” he heard Derpy explain to her little filly.

“Mom, that’s like the fifth time you’ve said that today,” the unicorn sighed up at her overprotective mother, rolling her eyes.

“I know but I really need you on your best behavior, Dinky,” Derpy explained, a bit of panic taking over. “Why, if you got on his bad side, who knows what could happen! He could get really mad and quit babysitting and then you’d be alone and then he wouldn’t be friends with either of us an-”

The Courier made her stop by clearing his throat, and she turned to him.

“I believe your reservations were set for four,” he pointed to his Pip-Boy’s watch. “It’s already three thirty, you should get going.”

“Oh goodness, you’re right!” Derpy said, before turning and trying to kiss Dinky on her forehead. (she actually missed and just kissed her horn instead) The mare then flew off, shouting back over her shoulder. “Bye Dinky, bye Six! Be safe!”

“Thanks for the save,” Dinky sighed, wiping her horn with a forehoof. “She can be a bit embarrassing at times.”

“Hey she’s your mother,” the human pointed out sternly. “Better be thankful for what you’ve got. Some aren’t that lucky to have a parent like that.”

Dinky frowned, remembering the entire situation with Diamond Tiara and Spoiled Rich.

“Right,” she nodded.

“Now do you wanna go around town with me?” offered the human.

“Huh? You’re supposed to be foalsitting me,” the unicorn squeaked with surprise.

“I am,” he pointed out. “And not once did either Derpy or the Doc say I couldn’t bring you around town to run some errands.”

She just smiled goofily up at him.

A bit later and she was trailing a foot or two behind him as he walked along, checking the notes in his Pip-Boy.

“Alright, it’ll just be a quick stop by Rarity’s, maybe Applejack's, maybe a diner,” he said aloud to the little filly, his vision focused on the amber-colored screen of his HUD.

“Maybe we can go to the park?” offered the little unicorn. “Ooh or maybe a quick hike in the Everfree?”

“Last time I was with a filly in the woods, it led to me having to save her from certain death,” he said flatly. “Let’s skip that one.”

She deflated a bit, but still nodded.

The Carousel Boutique was the first stop, and today it looked as if it were closed. Weekends and all that.

Regardless, the human ignored this and just barged on in with Dinky in tow, opening the door and causing a bell to chime as he entered.

Immediately, he was met with the sight of a large, bipedal, scaled thing with wings looking at him. It reminded him a bit of the geckos back home, but a bit more… ferocious, perhaps? More durable looking as well. Had horns and sharper fangs. Definitely draconic, though it wasn’t like the ones he’d seen in the comics.

It also had a big poofy pink dress on. So that lowered the intimidation by a bit.

It (She? Looked a little feminine in the face, the dress helped too) jerked back in surprise at his sudden entrance, and immediately her clawed hands reached up to cover her dress, like that’d hide all the frills and gem-coated fabrics of it.

“Smolder dear, are you alright?” Rarity yelped, rushing into view from the other room with a large amount of fabrics and needles in her magical grasp.

“I was until this- this… whatever it is barged in,” hissed the dragon.

Was she… blushing? With scales?

The human didn’t question it as he set his gaze on Rarity.

“Guess you’re a bit busy at the moment,” he said simply.

“Ya think!” the embarrassed dragoness growled.

“Smolder, no need to be panicked, this is Courier Six!” Rarity injected herself into the conversation, standing between the two. “He helped me gather these gems for your dress, remember? He’s not going to judge you at all for wearing liking girly things!”

“How am I supposed to believe that when he has a bunch of… dark, cool, mean-looking stuff on?” Smolder growled, still doing her best to cover her feminine attire.

“Oh, ignore the armor, underneath I’m just a big softie,” he snarked.

“I can sense the sarcasm, you know!” the young dragoness spat back, smoke billowing from her nostrils.

“Look, kid, I’m just here for work-related meetings, honest. Not whatever this is,” he said, motioning his hand to the dress.

“This is my newest interspecies fashion line!” Rarity explained with a huffy tone. “Now I am not trying to be rude, but I do need relative quietness to concentrate on the dress.”

“Whatever,” he shrugged. “Sure you don’t have any work for me today?”

“Positive,” she said with a definitive nod.

“Alright, come on Dinky,” he said, walking back over to the door.

However, the little unicorn had trotted up to Smolder by this point, looking up at the dragoness, who gave an unsure look down at the little pony.

“I’m not usually into frilly stuff, but your dress looks really cool,” offered the filly with a soft smile.

“Uh… thanks?” Smolder managed, still blushing; an unsure expression adorned her face.

“You know, I always thought dragons were really cool!” squeaked the unicorn. “We should hang out sometime, you’re at the School of Friendship, right?”

Smolder nodded unsurely.

“Dinky!” interrupted the Courier, his tone louder now as he stood by the open door.

“Ah, sorry,” the little filly said. “It was really cool to properly meet you, Smolder. I’m Dinky, by the way.”

“Yeah I kinda figured,” chuckled the dragoness, finally moving aside her claws from her dress to gently bend down and offer an open palm to the filly.

Dinky squeaked with excitement and shook her hand with excitement.

The Courier and Rarity both watched the little unicorn as after a few seconds, she let go of the claw/hoofshake and rushed over to the human’s feet.

“Bye Smolder!” she said.

“Catch ya later, Dinky,” the dragoness replied with a smile and a wave, much more relaxed now.

The door shut and the duo were gone, with Rarity wiping her brow in relief.

"That dude is kind of a jerk, isn't he?" Smolder asked.

"He's rough around the edges, and sometimes he is rather... forwards?" replied the fashionista as she looked over the dragoness' dress. "But deep down, I think he just wants to be accepted, no different from any other pony. Or dragon."

Smolder nodded at that, looking at the closed door.

Outside the Boutique, the human and filly walked alongside one another.

“Guess you made a new friend,” he chuckled.

“Smolder?” Dinky looked up at him. “Nah, she’s… well her friend group is too important to hang out with someone like me. They saved Equestria in the past, actually!”

“You’re kidding? They’re students! Teenagers at best, right?” he said, his tone one of surprise.

“Well Cozy Glow was younger than them, and she nearly drained the entire world of its magic!” the unicorn explained.

“Okay now this shit’s getting weird,” he growled, not censoring his swear. “Feels like half of this specific town saved the world.”

“Tell me about it,” Dinky rolled her eyes.

The two continued on, heading towards Sweet Apple Acres.

The Courier’s meeting with Applejack went by quickly for the little filly. She got a quick hello with Apple Bloom, but beyond that, her day consisted mostly of following the human around as he did what she would call ‘boring adult stuff.’ You know the kind.

The farmer had no work for the human to do, obviously, and explained that for the next few days it’d be like that. He seemed annoyed at that but still left courteously.

The trek back was a bore-filled swirl of nothing but trees and hills and greenery. It was only after they got back into Ponyville proper did things start picking up.

She walked on behind him as they made their way to a small burger joint. Dinky was pretty sure she remembered this as the one that Twilight had eaten at with the CMC a few years back.

“I don’t know about you kid, but I’m ready for some grub, kid,” he flexed his shoulders a bit. “You want some of that uh… ice cream stuff?”

She smirked at that, with him now getting her proper attention once for the whole evening.

The two were soon sitting at one of the tables, and not long after that, Dinky got a small banana split for her troubles. The Courier himself only had a large salad, hold the flowers, along with two sarsaparillas.

He was halfway through one of the drinks already and digging into the greens without mercy.

It wasn’t a Desert Salad, but it’d have to do for now.

“So uh… how’s school going?” he asked, doing his best to make small talk with the little filly as he sat across from her.

“It’s alright,” she replied simply. “Cheerilee’s been super protective over everypony since… well you know.”

“Yeah, she seems like a good teacher, not like some of the ones back where I came from,” he said, waving a fork in thought before he dug it back into the large bowl of leafy greens with the utensil.

As he chomped down a large helping of the greens, the human waved over one of the waitresses.

The mare looked a bit nervous at his appearance, but she soon walked over with a nod.

"Can I get ya anything?" she asked.

“Three more sarsaparillas,” the human said, and she gave him a cocked eyebrow as he turned back to Dinky, “you want anything to kid? Ya didn’t order anything earlier. Want some apple juice, something?”

“Apple juice with a banana split?” the filly replied.

“Yeah, why not?” he shrugged.

“I’ll just take a sparkling water,” shrugged the filly.

The waitress nodded, writing down the two’s drinks orders before she trotted away towards the back rooms of the restaurant.

The human himself was digging back into his food, covering his mouth and lower jaw with one of his gloved hands as he chewed.

“So, your mom, she uh… runs the mail yeah?” he asked. He already knew the answer to the question but was just trying to keep the filly’s attention by this point.

“Yeah and it’s awful! She breaks her back over that dumb job all the time,” huffed Dinky, before she took a bite of her banana split.

“Hey, hey! None of that,” he waved his fork at her again, his tone stern despite having a mouthful of tomato and lettuce. “Mail delivery is the backbone of a polite, organized society. Without couriers, there’s no long-distance communication, and without long distance communication, there’s no order, and when there’s no order, there’s anarchy, and when there’s anarchy, there’s NO society.”

She just looked at him in silence, partly stunned and partly confused at his tangent.

Six soon sighed, taking a long drink of his soda to clear his mouth. He sat it aside and continued.

“Look kid, your mother’s doing her best for you, and she’s doing a good job for the community while she’s at it, alright?” he said, his tone softer. “She loves you, and that’s what matters above anything else.”

“I know that,” Dinky rolled her eyes. “It’s just… it feels like no matter what she does half the town calls her a klutz.”

“Now don’t say that. She’s important to others, you know?” he explained, remembering his conversation with Bon Bon a few nights ago. “Without her help, some peopl- uh… ponies, couldn’t function at all. Or at least not as well as they do currently at least.”

“You weren’t in my hooves though,” Dinky said, her tone filled with a trace of sadness. “Whenever she would do something wrong like mix up a pony’s mail, or accidentally smash through a house, it felt like half the ponies in my class would laugh at me for it. Called her all kinds of mean names for weeks.”

He sat there in silence, letting the filly vent as he held his gloved hand over his mouth.

“And it’s not like any pony came to my defense that often,” she pouted. “I mean, the CMC were nice enough, but they had dozens of other ponies they dealt with. I just kinda faded into the background. I barely had any friends to hang out with. It was just me and mom and occasionally the Doc and Lyra and Bon Bon.”

“Kid, that’s still a lot more than your average person back where I’m from,” he pointed out.

“That still doesn’t help me!” she snapped.

He was silent for a moment, gently tapping his fork against the rim of his salad bowl.

Dinky looked on the verge of tears, as if this had been built up over a good long while.

“I think you’re just looking for the negatives in this situation, kid,” he explained, his tone a bit soft. “I mean, look back at the Boutique there, you were making friends with that dragon without issue.”

“What, Smolder?” Dinky asked, a bit confused. “She’d never actually hang out with me, she’s older and has her own friend group. Like I said, they're way more important than I am.”

“Didn’t stop you from talking to her,” he huffed. “I mean, think about it! If you can get on a damn dragon’s good side in just a few minutes, think about every other kid you could befriend.”

She was silent at that, leaned back in her chair a bit.

“Well, I always liked Twist,” she admitted, “and Tender Taps, he had some cool dance moves.”

“There you go,” the human chuckled, encouraging the little filly. “Got plenty of friends there for you. Just gotta talk to em.”

She nodded, her mood a bit brighter, with the sadness seeming to dissipate, even just a bit.

The two remained silent, the Courier occasionally eating some salad as he let the filly process his words and come to her own conclusions.

“Your drinks, sir,” the waitress returned, sitting down his sodas and Dinky’s small cup of sparkling water.

He nodded and she trotted off, leaving the duo alone once more.

“I think you’re right,” Dinky finally admitted.

“Of course I am,” he tapped his fork on his bowl with a chuckle. “Now get to eating your ice cream, I’m not wasting bits paying for that shit just to have it go to waste.”

She snickered at that.

“You need to work on your language,” she teased.

“This is me being censored,” he chuckled back, before downing an entire glass of sarsaparilla in one go.

She just rolled her eyes at that, and magically gripped her spoon before she went back to eating her sugary treat.

The day was getting late, but the two had a few hours before Dinky’s parents got home, so as a final form of relaxation, the Courier took the filly to a small park nearby.

Six and Dinky crested a small hill and found a nice bench to relax on. The human took a seat, leaning back as he overlooked the park below. He could see dozens of ponies and fillies playing about, relaxing, and just generally having a good time.

There were no worries, no hardships, no fears about whether tomorrow would be survivable, just parents and children having fun. It was a community, just like it had been back at the party.

"Why don’t you go join them, kid?” he said, looking down at the unicorn, who instead just took a seat next to him.

“I’ve got plenty of time to make new friends with other foals and stuff,” she explained with a cheerful smile. “I’ve only got so much time with you, though! Who knows how much longer you’re gonna be here, given half the time you talk about leaving!”

He shrugged and she sat beside him, curling up almost like a cat as the two watched the nice, beautiful scene below.

They just remained there for several minutes, not needing to talk.

They enjoyed it.

Despite the different age, the different species, there was something… calming, about being with Dinky.

Maybe it was just obnoxious fatherly instincts. Maybe it was him beginning to crack. Maybe it was an equally as annoying third thing. He couldn’t tell.

Soon enough though, she broke the silence.

“Life’s good, isn’t it Six?” she squeaked, turning her small head towards him.

The human looked over at her, and then back to the numerous ponies below. He nodded to himself, running his tongue along the inside of his cheek in thought as he did.

He pondered her words.

No war. No looting. No starving...

No killing.

The Courier was silent for a bit, letting her question linger as if he was pondering how to answer. Soon enough, he nodded.

"Yeah, Dinky... I think it is..." he finally admitted, more to himself than to the gray unicorn. "Life... is good."

He continued to contemplate the scene before him in silence. The afternoon sun shined brightly down onto the grassy fields of Ponyville all the while.

Dinky just smiled up at him as he slouched there in silence.

He was her savior.

Her hero.

Her friend.

Late in the night, Derpy opened up the front door to her home, entering first, before ushering in a tipsy Doctor Whooves inside along with her.

“Dinky!” she called softly, looking around her home’s entryway. “We’re home!”

“And I’m staying the night!~” the stallion added with a devious chuckle and a sing-song tone, a drunken blush on his muzzle.

Derpy batted him softly with one of her wings while blushing herself, before scolding him.

“I told you that you shouldn’t have challenged Lyra to that contest!” groaned the mare. “The only pony I’ve seen outdrink her is Berry Punch.”

“What, it was for your honor,” he teased. “She challenged you first, after all, I just filled in for my lovely little mare.”

Derpy held back a chuckle, waving off her coltfriend.

“Dinky-” she called out once more, though this time the pegasus was cut off by the sound of a loud, deep snore.

She soon entered the living room and turned, seeing her couch, which was pressed up against the nearby wall. She covered her mouth with a forehoof, stifling a giggle at the scene before her.

The Courier sat there, passed out, his head leaning against the backrest of the couch as Dinky sat in his lap like a little kitten, herself equally as conked out as he was.

He sat there, as if he were a snoring guardian to the little filly.

The Doc peaked his head in through the door frame, looking at the scene, before he nearly burst into a full-on laugh. Derpy’s wing clamped his muzzle before he could.

“Shhhh,” she managed, before turning back to the two. “These two need their rest.”

The Doc nodded with a goofy smile, still lucid in his drunken state.

The love-ponies soon left the two alone, as the Courier gave another deep, visceral snore.

While they couldn’t read his thoughts nor his dreams, if they had the ability to, they’d realize the Courier was getting one of the best sleeps of recent memory at that moment.

Maybe it was due to the fact some piece of him accepted that he cared for Dinky.

Cared for the others.

Cared for Ponyville...

Author's Note

I hope you all enjoyed this shorter chapter! It will probably be one of the last slice of life styled ones for a bit. What comes next will be a lot more tonally serious!