I awoke one morning...

I was walking down through the centre of Ponyville, clad in my new shirt and still-soaking pants. I had to pass through the open market on the way to the town hall and received a few friendly 'hello's' as I did. This was fine, and I even said 'hey' back to a few ponies, but what startled me was when I heard the familiar southern drawl of certain cow-pony as she stood by her stall.

"Hey there, lover-boy!"

"Oh, Hey Applejack" I turned around and saw the orange mare smiling more brightly than usual.

"Care to share what's got you grinning like a mad pony?"

"I just thought it's real sweet of you to do something like that to try make it up Twi, but I never knew you had those sorta' feelings for her."

"What are you on about?" I replied, unsure as to what Applejack meant.

"Getin' the cupcakes delivered by the crusaders, along with the special message you told them to pass on."

"Oh that," I replied, "I thought that would cheer her up." I was going to carry on and ask her about the 'special message' the crusaders allegedly told Twilight, but a loud growl from my stomach said otherwise. "Hehe, guess I forgot about eating today."

"Well, you're stood by an apple stall. Anythin' catch your eye?"

"I wish I could AJ, but I don't have any money since I left it all up in Canterlot. Some other time maybe?"

"Ya know what," Applejack replied, "I may not be the element of generosity, but I can't just let a starving friend go hungry. Take a couple."

"Really?" I asked, surprised by the offer.

"Eeyup. It's not like missin' two apples will affect today's market. Ever since the rain cleared up, the town's been more busy than usual to make up for lost time."

I picked up two apples and pocketed one, before taking a bite out of the other. I was about to ask Applejack what she meant earlier by the 'special message' I supposedly told Twilight, but before I could I was interrupted by a couple of customers. I took this as an opportunity to leave, seeing as the mare was busy and I had places to be.

The walk from the centre of Ponyville to the Town Hall was a short one. I had met a few more ponies on my way, all of which were friendly enough to say hello. As I stood outside the large open doors, I could hear chattering coming from the inside. As I poked my head around the corner, I saw that the mayor was in a heated meeting with a rather slick business pony, what it was about I don't know.

"You're going to have to wait a few minutes sir, the mayor is currently occupied."

I turned around and saw the receptionist of the town hall. She was a light brown earth pony with a black mane and had a quill for a cutie mark. She was sat behind a small desk that was covered in stacks of paper.

"I could see that myself," I replied, "Say, you wouldn't be able to tell me what that meeting's about, would you?"

"Filthy Rich came in this morning asking to start up another business in town, and he needed to pass it through office before he could get planning permission set up."

"Does it always get that loud?" I asked.

"Sometimes. Mr. Rich loses his temper easily when it comes to important things like this, he's been like that ever since his filly was foaled."

"I'm not surprised. From what I've heard she's-"

I was going to carry on talking, but Filthy Rich stormed out of the mayor's office. He looked over to us and I noticed a slight twitch in his eye. He exhaled sharply and regained his cool composure before walking out of the town hall.

"I... I guess it's my turn now?"

I turned to the receptionist. She nodded silently.

I was sat in the mayor's office, admiring the various trinkets and items that adorned the room. Behind the desk was a wide crystal-clear window giving me a view over the most of Ponyville, the large ornate desk itself being made of rich mahogany. The mayor was sat in rather fancy office chair, contrasting against the small wooden frame of a seat I was given myself. She finished up writing her final papers before turning to me.

"So Alex, what's the nature of your business here?"

"Umm..." I replied, confused as to why she asked the question, "I'm here about the job offering? You know, the one you gave me?"

"Oh I know, this is just the standard procedure whenever I have somepony in the office on official business. If I could skip past it I would." The mayor scrawled onto a blank form in front of her. "What's the date?"

I went to reply before she interrupted me. "Oh that's right, the calendar's right there, silly me."

She wrote some more details down onto the paper and out the quill down. She looked back up at me and spoke. "So Alex, you've had time to think about the job, what do you say?"

"Well, on the one hand, er, hoof, I get paid to make ponies laugh with poor acting skills and terrible jokes, on the other I have to dress up as a monkey and work all day... decisions decisions..."

I raised a hand to my chin and attempted to look like I was seriously contemplating the offer. The mayor watched on expectantly as I put up the charade for a minute or so before asking if I had come to a conclusion. "So, what will it be?"

"Tell you what," I replied, "Make it five and a half hours a day at six bits per hour and you've got yourself a deal."

"But that's half of the original work time for 75% of the payment! Make it four bits an hour and you've got the job."

"Lowest I'll go is five bits. Take it or leave it, I don't really need the job anyway."

The mare sighed in frustration. "Fine. Five bits at five and a half hours it is. That would be two shows a day."

"Good," I answered, "I didn't know how you were expecting me to perform for eleven hours a day anyway. I'm not an endless barrel of laughs." I held out a hand to shake on the offer, but the mayor declined. She was probably a little peeved that I had cut my work time down, but in the long run I was right. The mayor crossed through a few words on her form before turning it around to me. She handed me a quill and told me where to sign, pointing to various points on the paper. I made my marks and put the quill back down on the table.

"By the way, we're going to need some measurements for the work clothing. We've found an old Nightmare Night costume that we can re-size and have ready for you tomorrow. You wouldn't be able to stay a while longer to have them taken, would you?"

"Ask Rarity," I replied, "she's already got them for an order I placed with her this morning."

"Well then," The mayor said, "that should be all. You start tomorrow morning. Remember to be here on time, you'll make a bad impression on everypony if you arrive late on your first day."

"Bye then, and don't worry, I'll make sure to get here on time." I waved off the mayor as I walked out of the room, but she was too busy concentrating on her paperwork to notice. How rude.

With everything that I had to get done in town finally over, I had made my way back to the library. I was going to knock on the door, but I decided to push it open instead. Inside I found Twilight, sat on the wooden couch in the centre of the room. The pink box of cupcakes was sat next to her with its lid open and had crumbs scattered around it.

I pushed the door open a little bit further, making the hinges creak as they moved. Twilight's ears pricked up before she turned to me and smiled. "Oh Alex, I wasn't expecting you back until later. How was your day?"

"Eventful, to say the least."

"How so?" Twilight replied.

"I get my new set of clothes in three days and have to act like a monkey in front of the entire town again. How was yours?"

"Mine's been fine. Thanks for the cupcakes by the way, they were delicious. How'd you know vanilla frosting was my favourite?"

"Lucky guess," I replied, "I take it they were still in one piece when they got here?"

"Yeah. The crusaders did a great job of delivering them, along with the message they came with."

That was the second time today somepony mentioned a 'message' today whenever the cupcakes were brought up, and I still had no idea what it was about. "Message? What message?"

"The one you got the crusaders to pass on? The one about wanting to 'love and care for me' and having my kids-"

Never. Again. Crusaders. "Sorry to disappoint you Twi, but I think there's been a little bit of a misunderstanding..."

"-I know we argued about it this morning, but I never knew you felt that way about me." Twilight paused mid-sentence before turning a shade of red. "Is that why you didn't want to answer me when I asked you about it?"

Oh great. Whatever you say is going to make you look like an idiot. I looked around, trying to find a way out of the conversation. It was then I saw Spike over by the bookshelves, looking at me sympathetically. "Uh Twilight," he said, "I don't think you were listening."

"Listening to what?" The librarian asked.

"Alex said there was a bit of a misunderstanding. I think he meant that the crusaders weren't supposed to deliver any message."

"Is that true?" The unicorn turned back to me, with the most innocent gaze I had ever seen.

"Yes," I replied, "I only asked them to send the cupcakes." Twilight's expression saddened as she spoke.

"Oh. Sorry. I guess I got a little excited over nothing..." She turned around and walked up the stairs with her tail between her legs, closing the door behind her as she entered her bedroom.

"Oh wow. I feel terrible," I said aloud. Spike walked over from his place by the bookshelves and sat down on the couch Twilight was previously on.

"She was going on about it all evening," Spike started, "She's never had a special somepony before, so as soon as she heard the message from the crusaders she got her hopes up."

"That's not making me feel any better," I said as I sat down next to the young dragon. "That's two mares I've upset today. I wonder if it'll be three tomorrow..."

"Two?" Spike replied, "Who was the first?"

"Dash. We argued earlier because I didn't want to tell her something. She ended up flying off in anger and leaving me alone in the rain."

"Wow man. That's pretty bad."

"Tell me about it..."