A Tale of Magic

Chapter 6: The Good, the Bad and the Unemployed

Bright opened his eyes to the quiet sound of birds outside his window. The morning had arrived and he had slowly risen from his slumber WITH THE BIGGEST SPLITTING HEADACHE EVER!

“Aw~ Don’t. Even. Think,” he thought to himself, each word bringing him pain. “Never. Again. Drinking. Aw.”

He slowly got out of bed (slow being the keyword in this sentence), and made his way to the kitchen. Each step he took brought him pain. Was it the floorboards squeaking, or was it his head? Nonetheless, the pain was there, and it was intense.

“Giving birth? Try being me right now,” Bright thought, he couldn’t help but feel a bit grumpy. “I blame the hangover…”

“Oh, good morning Bright.” Bright instantly froze in his movement. Fluttershy simply watched him, what was he doing? “Ehm… Bright?”

“ARGH! The pain!” Even Fluttershy’s normal timid voice was agonizingly loud at the moment. Wait…did he just shout? “ARGH! ARGH! ARGH! IT’S A VICIOUS CIRCLE! ARGH! PLEASE MAKE IT STOP! ARGH!”

Despite Bright’s current state, Fluttershy couldn’t help but smile. This was exactly how Rainbow Dash had acted a while back when she had had that drink from ‘The Tipsy Pegasus’. Last time, Fluttershy had freaked out, but this time she knew exactly what to do.

“Here you go, Bright Eyes, drink this,” she said as pushed a tray with a cup on it.

Bright didn’t waste a second before he took the cup and drank the content in two big gulps. This ended up like most of Bright’s ideas: badly.

“Aw aw aw aw, hothothothothothot!” But despite the hot feeling in his mouth, Bright felt relived. The pain was gone-“Auch!” OK, mostly anyways. “What did I drink?” He asked, smacking his tongue.

“It’s a special mixture I got from Zecora a while back when Dash was in your situation.” Fluttershy let out a small giggle. “You’re actually lucky; Dash had to wait for the mixture to brew. Since then, I’ve always made sure to have some stored.”

Bright lowered his head and closed his eyes. “Rainbow Dash, you have my sympathy.”

Fluttershy let out a small giggle. “So do you have any plans for today Bright?” She asked.

Plans? Well for the last few days that he had been in Ponyville he hadn’t actually had a single plan. It seemed like the day would just give him something to do, whether he liked it or not. “Well, no. But considering that I don’t own a single bit, I guess looking for a job should be prioritized.”

“There’s a board in town just outside the mayor’s office where you should be able to find a job,” Fluttershy mentioned, trying to be as helpful as she could. “Do you have anything in mind?”

“No, I guess I’ll just check out the board and see if there’s anything that I’m good at.” He stopped to think for a moment. “This is one of the times where a cutie mark could be really nice to have!”

“Don’t worry Bright, I’m sure you will find your special talent soon,” Fluttershy said with a sad smile on her face.

“Yeah I guess.” Bright couldn’t help but think that there was something he was missing… Oh yeah! “Ehm, Fluttershy? You know… I wasn’t the only one drinking last night. Rainbow Dash did too…”

Fluttershy looked at Bright confused for mere fragments of a second, before jumping into the air. “Oh my! Hold on Rainbow Dash, I’m coming!” She exclaimed before flying out of the door.

Bright chuckled a bit while shaking his head. “Every day a new adventure I guess,” he said to himself, as he began his trip into Ponyville.

----Ponyville Bulletin Board----

A few hours later

“OK! A job as an assistant on Ponyville’s bee farm wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had!” Bright said as the last remaining bee flew out of his beard. ‘Oh my god, not the bees!’ He shuddered as he remembered those flying demons.

Not only didn’t the board have anything which sounded like something Bright could do in the slightest, but those that did was usually looking for-*he frowned*-'young' ponies. “Come on! I’m still full of energy! Not like some of those lazy whippersnappers nowa-“  His eyes widen. “By Luna… I AM old!”

No. His age would be the last thing that would stop his job-hunting. He needed a job. He couldn’t keep living off of Fluttershy’s kindness. He took another look at the board. “Isn’t there anything that I could do?”

His eyes fell (figuratively) on a small poster.

“Assistant needed. Must be willing to do various tasks.  Decent pay.” Bright’s smile grew as he read the next part. “Age and/or gender not important. Please contact 'Yorozuya' at Ponysquare 34, first floor.”

Bright (literarily) tore the poster down and galloped towards the address on the paper.

---Outside Yorozuya---

5 minutes later

Bright was nodding, or that’s at least what it looked like. In truth he was looking at two very interesting things. One was the Yorozuya, ‘What the buck does that even mean?’, and the other was the bar at the first floor of the address.

“The place is above The Tipsy Pegasus? How did I not see that place last night?” Bright wondered.  Even though he hadn’t exactly been looking for it last night, he should have been able to see the large sign just above the bar’s own sign.

’Yorozuya – House of 10.000 business.’ ”Well that didn’t make it any less cryptic!” He noticed a set of stairs on the side of the building and began ascending them. “Oh well, a job’s a job.”

When he made it to the door, he gave it a few knocks. A moment passed in silence. He knocked again; still nothing.

‘I wonder if he’s out?’ Bright thought to himself. After a few more second, Bright was just about to leave when he finally heard noises from inside. *crash**boom**screech**The Wilhelm yell* “…What in Luna’s name is going on in there?”

“The door is open,” he heard somepony yell from the inside. The noises, however, didn’t stop. With a nervous hoof, Bright opened the door.

Somepony had gotten killed… Or that’s at least what the entrance looked like. Garbage everywhere. Bright couldn’t help but think that the owner was related to Dash or something. Immediately to his right was a small kitchen, looking equally as terrible as the entrance.

Down a small hallway was a bigger room. In the middle stood a coffee table with a couch on both sides. At the end of the room was a desk with a spinny-chair, with a window overlooking a good part of Ponyville behind it. The rest of the room didn’t have anything interesting to share (the greedy bastard!), except what looked like a sword on a stand opposite the room of the desk. *Sling* ‘OK, what are those noises?’ Bright thought to himself.

“Oh come on! You cannot seriously say that I missed that one! I still have an extra life!” He heard somepony shout from the adjacent room. Before Bright could investigate, the door opened and a pony walked through it. The earth pony had a cyan coat and a very light, almost white, mane and tail. A soft-looking flame adored his flank as his cutie mark. He trotted to his desk and jumped into his spinny-chair, spinning twice for good measure, and began his well-rehearsed speech. “Yes hello, welcome to Yorozuya, what can I help you with?” Well-rehearsed didn’t necessarily mean he couldn’t have a very bored expression while making it…was he picking his nose?

“Hi, my name if Bright Eyes. I’m here for the job,” he said.

Immediately the earth pony’s eyes lit up. “Oh! Why… er, welcome!” He rushed (very slowly Bright added) around the desk and shook Bright’s hoof. ”Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Gin Toki.”

The confusion in Brights face must have been very apparent, as Gin added, “I am Neighponese.” This resulting in Bright making an 'o' shape with his mouth. “Well with the job comes lodging if you want to-“

Bright interrupted him. “Wait! Lodging? For free?” Gin nodded. “There’s a ‘but’ in there somewhere, isn’t there?”

“No there is not Bright Eyes, and if you’re done wondering about conspiracies, come with me. We have got a job to do,” Gin said as he began walking towards the door.

Bright suddenly realized something. “Oh wait!” Gin stopped and looked back at Bright. “What… IS our job really?”

Gin seemed slightly confused for a second, before smiling wide. “Why, we are the amazing oddjobs! Come on Oji-San!”

Why did Bright feel like he was just called something he didn’t like being called?

----Town Square----

2 hours later

“These hard-hats are extremely uncomfortable,” Bright whined. Not just some big boy-whining, but proper lady-whining. To his defense, his hat wasn’t actually made with a unicorn in mind, but apparently the workers couldn’t find one for a unicorn of Bright’s size.

Gin groaned. “Oh stop your whining, Oji-san! You have been going on about that hat for an hour now!”

“I am not whining, I am…” Bright stopped for a second and though that one through. “OK yeah, I’m whining. But let me shove a horn on YOUR head and put this hat on you, and let’s see who’s whining!”

The workers, Sawdust and Ball-Peen, couldn’t help but laugh at the duo. Currently, Bright and Gin were helping them repair the roof of the newly built archive. Apparently it had burned down a few weeks ago, when one of the residents had been making muffins. How that had happened was an entirely different story however.

“Not to mention that you’ve been taking breaks every five minutes to drink that, what did you call it?” Bright looked at the small mountain of cartons. “Strawberry milk… Seriously, too many sweet things will only lead to diabetes!”

Gin frowned and began a true speech from the heart. “Now you listen up! Let us say you drink too much strawberry milk, and have to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. But it is cold outside your bed. You do not want to get up, but the urge to urinate is just too strong! You make up your mind to go! You run to the bathroom, stand in front of the toilet, and let loose! You think that all your life has led to this moment!” he spoke with much enthusiasm. Bright raised an eyebrow, wondering where this was going.

Gin continued. “But then you realize! It is not the bathroom, you are still in bed! That feeling of lukewarm wetness spreads like wildfire! But you do not stop! You cannot stop! That’s what I am talking about! THAT IS THE TRUTH OF THE STRAWBERRY MILK! DO YOU GET IT!?”

Bright took a moment. “No… No I don’t. I haven’t the faintest clue what you’re talking about. Let’s just finish this roof for now, and you can tell me all about the wonders of this milk of yours later.”

“Oh, we’re already done.” Sawdust said from beneath them. Damn, grand speeches sure make the time fly by, doesn’t it?

Bright could finally take off the helmet of hurt. Oh the freedom! He flicked his ears a few times, a habit he had instead of simply scratching them. Gin did the same, not to copy Bright, but because it looked funny.

In retort, Bright flicked a few more times.

His opponent did too.

And we’ve got Bright giving a brilliant example of ear-flicking! No wonder he’s the undefeated champion around these parts! Sure looks to be a great match today Teddie!

Oh, but what’s this?! Gin has taken it up a notch. He’s doing his signature move: The hummingbird! Look at that flicking! What skill! What power! What utter amazingness are we witnessing today Bob?

Yeah, it seems like Bright Eyes might finally lose his champion-title toda- No wait! I can’t believe it! He’s doing it! The Punisher! It’s the Punisher! Bright is taking this to the extreme. He’s showing the crowd that he has no intention of losing today! This is what makes a champ! Power, speed and most of all: guts! Bright has it all, and he’s not afraid to show it! This is what I call a fight! Don’t you agree Ted?

I couldn’t agree more Bob. I think we might be seeing an end to this fight very soon. This display reminds me of this one time in Fillydelphia, where I had a chat with the pro ear-flicker called Ear Wiggle. He said that if you have to win a fight, you need to be brave. Look your enemy in the eye, and don’t look away. Show him your resolve and your guts. And for Celestia’s sake; flick those ears!

Well Ted, I believe I can honestly say that if he was here tonight, he would NOT be disappointed! He might have just joined in the fight!

Haha, he might just have Bob. He might just.

Bright was feeling great! He was winning this. ‘Winning?’ He was completely in the zone and the commentary was really helping. ‘Wait… Commentary?’ Bright stopped his flicking for a second to look to his right. Just a few meters from them stood Zephyr and Sar with silly grins on their faces just about to break into a fit of laughter.

A low laugh from Zephyr and a small flick from Gin made everypony laugh loudly at the situation. Soon the ear flicking started again, this time with two new contestants. The laughing was still going on and was at this point slowly turning into a very fake and overdramatic roar of laughter. Sar was doing the deep villain laugh and Gin was doing his best at an arrogant high-class pony laughter. Zephyr tried to do a Nightmare Moon-impression, yet failed as he didn’t possess the royal Canterlot voice. Bright himself settled for a female snob-laugh, complete with a hoof covering his mouth.

A few minutes went on with the guys doing numerous styles of laughter, complete with the flicking, before they were so rudely interrupted.

“Ehm guys? What are you doing?” A very confused Twilight Sparkle asked from the sidelines. Silence took place around the group. None of the guys answered. Bright put on his widest grin and tried a few flicks while looking at Twilight. Twilight said with a bemused expression, “No! That won’t work on me Bright. I have no interest in what you stallions are doing right now.”

“Awww come on Twilight, you have to loosen up a bit sometimes,” Zephyr said in a chipper tone. “Don’t be such a killjoy.”

“I don’t need to 'loosen up' Zeph, I am completely relaxed!”

“You’re not.”

“Are so.”

“Are not.”

“Are so.

“Are not.”

“Are so.”

“Are not.”

“Are so- Oh… You’re good Twilight…”

“So who needs to 'loosen up' now Zeph?” Twilight said with a smirk on her face.

“HI BRIGHTIE!” Pinkie. Out. Of. Freaking. Nowhere!  “No time to explain! Come with me, my people need me!”

Not fully comprehending how he had arrived at Sugar Cube Corner, Bright has standing in the kitchen wearing an apron. Bright’s mind was going into overdrive. 'Must. Not. Question. Pinkie’s. Logic...' (AN: I think I just killed a reader…)

“I need some help baking cupcakes!” Pinkie said in her usual happy-go-lucky tone.

“And why did you think I was the perfect choice to help you bake?”

“Why not?” She asked without her happy expression.

“Well first off…” And that’s where Bright had to stop. He didn’t have a good reason why he should, yet nor did he have a proper reason for not helping her… damn Pinkie-logic… “*sigh* Fine! So how do we do this?”

“Oh I have a song about that!” Bright cringed at this. Currently he was not in the mood for a song. "All you have to do is take a cup of flour, add it to the mix!~"

Bright looked around for an escape from the improv-musical performance. His gaze fell upon a few earplug-shaped cookies. His first though was 'Yes!'; the second, 'Wait, what the buck?!'; and the third, 'Ah, screw it!'.

Bright took the cookies and plugged them in. All he could see was Pinkie bouncing around the room and her mouth moving. ‘Ah… sweet blissful silence~’. After getting slightly more comfortable by the stove (not realizing that his tail had gotten a bit too close to the open fire), he simply settled for looking at Pinkie making cupcakes. Yeah, she didn’t really need his help. Her usual energy-levels were as always off the chart.

Pinkie suddenly came to a halt. She made a “gasp” motion with her mouth and began saying something. Not that Bright could figure out what it was though. ‘Time for some improv from me as well I guess’.

“Take it easy, Pinkie, I won’t let the cupcakes get burnt,” he said with a smile on his face. Pinkie tilted her head and began saying something again. “Relax Pinkie, I got this.”

It took approximately 4 seconds before Pinkie shrugged and went back to making more batter.

---3 minutes later---

‘Ahhh, the wonders of silence. I do hope that it wasn’t anything important that Pinkie was going on about…’ Bright opened his eyes and sniffed the air a bit. ‘How odd, the cupcakes are doing fine, but I’m still smelling smoke'.

Bright looked back at his tail which was currently burning. ‘Oh, I guess that explains that’. He sat down with a 'This-is-just- typical'-expression on his face. ‘It’s one of these days isn’t it? Oh well, guess I have to start screaming and running in circles now'.

And so he did.

---Elsewhere---

“How goes the plan?”

“He has successfully found his way to Ponyville and is currently residing there. It doesn’t seem like he has any suspicions.”

“Good. In that case, prepare for stage 2 of the plan.”

“As a matter of fact my lord, it seems like he has already infiltrated the elements.”

“Is that so?” He let out a deep chuckle. “It seems like my plan is proceeding easier than I expected it to do.”

“If I may my lord,” he said hesitantly. “It seems like something is bugging you.”

“Hehe, I honestly expected a bit more resistance.” He turned to look at a chess plate with various figures on it. “At this rate the game will be over way too soon.”

He used his magic to move a white piece towards a group of six other figures. He looked at a slightly bigger, white piece.

“Your move, Princess…”

This damn chapter... Wow. I took my sweet time writing it, which meant that I had to write it over several times (thereby the quality's a bit up and down in places). Both mine and my editor's internet connection have been wonky, which led to some confusion. And don't get me stated on exams. This is the reasons that this chapter was quite late. Sorry about that.

Hopefully, at least someone will know who Gin Toki is based off on

And hope I didn't give anyone mental whiplashes with the whole "suddenly at Sugarcube Corner" thing... I might have killed Kiroberos though...

References:Name's Ellis

Special thanks to my editor Kiroberos