A Break in the Clouds

In the morning, Daisy awoke to the sound of knocking at her door. Startled by the unfamiliar noise, she jumped and fell on the floor in a heap of blankets.

“Who is it?” She called out.

No response. Realizing that the pony could not hear her, Daisy untangled herself from the mess of blankets and opened the door.

“Can I help you?”

“Hi, are you Daisy?” A purple mare stood outside the door holding a covered basket.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“I’m Twilight, Twilight Sparkle. Pinkie told me there was a new pony in town and I wanted to come by and introduce myself. Oh, and I brought you some cookies. I read that when ponies move into the neighborhood you’re supposed to bring them something to show that they’re welcome.”

“Um…thanks,” Daisy said as she took the basket. The two stood awkwardly in the doorway for a few moments until Twilight broke the silence.

“Well, I can see that you’re busy.” Daisy knew she wasn’t really in the middle of anything, but she didn’t question what Twilight said. “I’ll just be going now. It was nice meeting you.

“Yeah…nice meeting you too,” said a half-awake Daisy. Shutting the door, she placed the cookies on a table, shuffled over to her bed and plopped down for a few more minutes of shuteye.

Outside, Twilight was trying to calm a particularly bouncy pony.

“See, see, I told you so, that’s totally her!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

“I’m still not sure Pinkie. Anyways, if it is her, there’s obviously a reason for her being quiet. I don’t think we should pry.”

“Aww, but Twilight, what if –“

“ – No, Pinkie.” Twilight was losing her patience. “Promise me you won’t bother her too much.”

Pinkie Pie looked severely disappointed, but obliged. “Pinkie promise.”

“Good.” The two began walking back towards Sugarcube Corner, where Mr. Cake was expecting Pinkie to babysit the twins so he and Mrs. Cake could go out for supplies. Twilight herself had errands to run, but of a different variety – she had some research to do.

A gentle breeze blew through the window in Daisy’s cottage, blowing her mane in front of her face as she tried to type a résumé of sorts. Somehow she couldn’t think of anything she had accomplished that wouldn’t give away her identity. In the end she wrote that she had experience with caring for younger children and that she was willing to do manual labor. She sighed as she typed the last words, contemplating how her life had ended up like this. Oh well; she had to get a job somehow. Taking the piece of paper and snagging a cookie, she put on her saddlebags and headed out the door. Maybe if she put up her advertisement in the middle of town somewhere, somepony would see and offer her a job. After all, everyone she had met so far had been so incredibly kind to her, someone was bound to help a pony out. Well, except for the mystery pony. She tried to recall his name as she approached a few shops clustered in what she took to be a busy street. Ponies were coming in and out of the shops with their purchases, laughing and talking to each other. It was obvious that everypony knew one another as old friends waved to each other from across the way. Daisy went up to a message board in the middle of a patch of grass and tacked up her ad. Suddenly a stronger gust of wind swept across the board, tearing her sign away through the crisp autumn air. She quickly chased after it, only to realize that somepony had already caught it and was holding it out to her. Mystery pony was standing in front of her with an amused look spread across his face.

“I think you dropped this,” he said and handed the paper back to Daisy.

“Thanks…the wind is pretty strong today,” she remarked as another gust whizzed past.

“You’re looking for work?” Daisy was frantically trying to remember the stallion’s name and took a second to process his question.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I suppose…yeah, I need a job.”

“I know that Applejack needs some help picking apples down at Sweet Apple Acres; maybe you should ask her.”

Daisy couldn’t help but smile at the real prospect of a job. “Oh my goodness, thank you so much. That would be so awesome! Could you tell me where it is, then I could introduce myself to Applejack and then I can have a job and pay my bills and -“

Daisy caught the pony staring at her with a strange look on his face.

“Oh, sorry, I just got carried away.”

“It’s fine.” The stallion chuckled a little. “Sweet Apple Acres is down that path. You can’t miss it. I would walk you, but I’m kind of busy right now –“

“Oh no, that’s fine, I’m sure I’ll find it. Thank you so much!” And with that Daisy promptly turned away from the pony – Ash, that was his name! Why hadn’t she remembered before? - and headed down the path he had pointed out to her. Ash shook his head in wonder and went off on his way.