What Happened To Yesterday

“Alright Sweetie, get ready for school. I’ll be up in a minute to fix your mane.” Rarity levitated the dirty dishes into the sink and hummed a small tune. Berry was busy picking up the covers from his bed on the couch and putting them in the hamper. He knew Rarity’s obsession with cleanliness, and he was being a good guest.

Berry smiled as he heard Sweetie Belle vocalizing the same tune Rarity was humming. The little filly was simply an amazing singer, he hoped that one day she would realize that was her special talent. But you’re not supposed to help somepony get their cutie mark, that was for them to do themselves.

“Hey Rarity?” Berry called into the kitchen, he had something he wanted to ask the mare.

“Yes, Berry?” Rarity walked into the main room and smiled at the sight of her guest tidying up.

“Can I walk Sweetie Belle to school today?”

“Of course you can, Berry. But I simply must run a few errands, so I hope you two don’t mind a little company from me for some of the trip.” He didn’t expect any less from her, after all Sweetie was her little sister. She was just looking after her younger sibling. “Now I have to do her mane, those curls don’t come naturally after all. She’s not you.” Rarity and Berry both laughed at the small joke as the unicorn went up the stairs.

Berry looked up at his mane, the tangled mess of hair that set atop his head was a constant annoyance for him. You wouldn’t believe how often it got caught or pulled on by the Cake Twins. Maybe one of these days he would ask Rarity for a little help taming it…or at least see if it can be tamed.

“Hmm…” Berry went to one of the many full length mirrors that dotted the boutique and looked at his appearance. His pink coat was perfect as always, soft, shiny, healthy. His mane and tail were totally different stories, though…they were tangled, had split ends, and he could spot some frosting deep within his mane. He could do with a makeover…

Berry spent the next few minutes looking over himself, when he heard the two females coming down the steps he quit examining himself and turned around. Sweetie Belle looked just like usual, her two-tone mane in short curls.

“Sweetie Belle, is it alright if Berry walks with you to school today?” Rarity grabbed her little sister’s saddlebag from a peg on the wall and put it on the little unicorn.

“Sure! Ooh, can I ride on your back Berry?” Sweetie started bouncing excitedly, which caused Rarity to frown and steady the bouncy filly with a hoof so she could clasp the saddlebag without it catching on any fur.

“Sweetie Belle, that is uncouth. A lady does not ride on a fine gentlecolt like Berry.” Sweetie flattened her ears and looked down, she obviously didn’t like being scolded by Rarity.

“No, It’s okay Rarity! I like to give ponies rides, it’s fun. Plus I’m a big tough earth pony.” Berry drew in a breath and stood heroically, before dropping the pose and scooping Sweetie on to his back. “I think I can carry a little filly for a few minutes.”

“Well alright Berry, if you’re alright with it.” Rarity started towards the door, giving an unseen smile at the small act. She honestly liked the stallion and thought he was the best with little ones. It was quite endearing.

“Hey Berry?” As he was trotting out, the little filly spoke drawing his gaze up to her. “How come you’re pink? Is it because you like boys?” Rarity turned back, looking appalled at the question, Berry simply laughed heartily.

“Nah, I don’t think you can be pink because of that. I’m pink because my Granny Pinkie was pink. In fact I look just like her except, well, Imma boy! That‘s like me asking you why you‘re white. It‘s cuz your mom and dad are.”  Berry giggled and started bouncing, his preferred mode of transportation. “Okay, my turn to ask you a question: what are you and the Cutie Mark Crusaders up to today?

“Ooh! Today Applebloom and Scootaloo want us to try for our apple-bucking cutie marks. I’m kinda surprised we haven’t tried that sooner. It’s cool because Applejack said he’d help us!” Berry didn’t let the mention of the farm pony, but Rarity did.

“Oh, I’m sorry Sweetie Belle but you must come right home after school today.” Rarity desperately did not want her sister around that ruffian, especially after everything he’s done.

“Why?”

“Well…Umm…you see…” Rarity was floundering, Berry knew why and he could see his friend needed help. So he threw her a line.

“So you can help Rarity give me a makeover!” Both unicorns gave him a questioning look. “Yeah, Rarity and I talked last night. My mane’s just one big ol’ messy mess and I asked if she could help fix it up.” Rarity’s eyes sparkled at the implications, she had been asking to chop his mane down to size for years, now she would have her satisfaction.

“And I thought that maybe you could do some crusading with Berry and I. perhaps you will get a beautician cutie mark.” Sweetie’s eyes sparkled, just like her sister’s at the mention of getting a cutie mark.

“We’re going to make you beautiful, Berry!” Sweetie chirped excitedly.

“Aww, I thought you were going to be the Beauty. I always wanted to be Beast.” The reference made Sweetie giggle. “Rarity, you can be Cogsworth.” That made them both devolve into a fit of laughter and snorts.

“Oh Berry, why can’t you be straight…?” Rarity lamented under her breath.

--

Applejack trudged silently back to Sweet Apple Acres. He wasn’t happy about the morning that had transpired. First he woke up in the library with Twilight practically smelling his nether regions, then he goes to leave and Twilight steals a kiss right as he’s walking out the door for the whole stinkin’ town to see. It was like she was trying to claim him as her own.

“Good fer nothing…”He silently cursed as he looked around. The apple trees were in perfect form as always, the sky was clear of any clouds, and the air was the same perfect quality. Everything in the world was perfect except for him…it was vexing. He was a good pony, took care of his family, paid his taxes, turned his library books in on time…it just made no sense.

The image of a pink pony flashed through his mind. Berry…could that be it? Granny always said that homosexuality was the sure way to a bad life, but he just took that as the ignorance of a past generation…but it was getting to him now. Maybe Granny was right…just maybe.

--

Twilight was watched out the window of the library, just thinking of her strapping young stallion. She thought she was in love with him before…but seeing his massive package hang free…oh sweet Celestia…that sealed the deal. She was going to have that stallion if it was the last thing she ever did.

--

“Okay. My turn.” Sweetie Belle and Berry were still playing this game. A few minutes ago Rarity had left them for her errands now it was just them. Sweetie still riding on Berry’s back. “How come you like boys?”

“Hmm…” Berry thought about that for a second. “I don’t know. I just do. I just like who I like because I like them.” It was a confusing answer, but he hoped Sweetie could keep up.

“Oh…have you ever dated a mare?” Berry shook his head in the negative. “Then how do you know if you like ‘em or not? Scootaloo always said you gotta try everything once, or else how do you know if you like it or not.” The question made Berry stop in his tracks. For such a young filly to have a perspective like that…it was odd.

“Well, I just know. Sure I never dated a mare, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know if I like them or not. When you get old enough you figure this kinda thing out.” Sweetie nodded and let her head lay in the tangle known as Berry Bubble’s mane.

The rest of the trip was taken in silence. It wasn’t very long trip now to the schoolhouse, as soon as they entered the grounds he  let the little filly slip off of his back and onto the ground. The little unicorn quickly bounded over to her fellow crusaders without even a goodbye, allowing Berry to do what he was here to do. He picked Cheerilee out of the crowd and made his way over to her.

“Hello Berry Bubble. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” Cheerilee gave a kind smile to the stallion. Always a kind pony, that Cheerilee.

“Well I was talking to Sweetie Belle earlier and she said some things that she said she learned at school.” Berry’s voice wasn’t playful or happy, it was serious. He was quite capable of being serious, and this was a serious time.

Cheerilee’s mood sobered as well. She was used to a few complaints from citizens about what their kids were learning, but a visit from Berry Bubble? That was quite a thing to behold.

“She called me a ‘colt-cuddler’ and said she heard it from a classmate here at school.” Cheerilee’s eyes widened in shock. She wasn’t used to complaints about foul language or slurs.

“Oh I am so sorry, Berry. If you tell me the name of the student I’ll make sure their parents receive a letter about this behavior.”

“Well actually I had a better idea.” Berry flashed his trademark smile to the teacher and pulled a card out of his mane. “I’m actually a spokespony for the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Alliance of Equestria, and I was wondering if I could give a little assembly one day.” Color Cheerilee surprised. Sure, everypony knew Berry was gay, but a spokespony for the most well-known activist group in all of Equestria? That was quite the shocker.

“Well I’ll have to run it by the school board but I would love to have you in the classroom one day.” Cheerilee’s eyes flashed with a mischievous glint and the schoolteacher leaned in and whispered. “Tell you what, Berry. Maybe you can set up a little seminar in town and I’ll tell the kids about it. It’ll pass all of the red tape. Or I can even assign them an essay on an interesting pony in town, I know you’ll be flooded with requests.” Cheerilee smiled, she loved helping ponies get around the terrible slowness of the school system. It was so rewarding.

“Ooh, Ooh. The paper. I like the paper idea! I like planning parties but a seminar is the opposite of a party, so blah on that.” He punctuated his ‘blah’ by letting his tongue stick out.

“I’ll make sure to work that in somewhere, don’t worry about it Berry.” Berry gave Cheerilee a quick hug and an excited squeak. “Now you get going, class is going to start soon and I’m sure you have to get to work.”

Work. Crap. Berry had forgotten all about the bakery! With all the speed of a toothless alligator, Berry turned and sprinted for the candy coated bakery he called home.

--

Sugarcube Corner was closed. Color Berry confused because Sugarcube Corner never closed! The eatery was always open and ready to serve the wonderful ponies of Ponyville their delectable snacks. Well, except when the Cakes went on trips, then it closed. Berry could never run the place on his own…but the Cakes weren’t out of town.

Berry fished the spare key from somewhere in his mane, slid it in the lock, and let the bakery door swing open. The inside was dark, the display cases were emptied of their various pastries, the ovens weren’t going, and it was eerily silent.

“Helooooo!” Berry called out into the dark. “Mr. and Mrs. Cake, where are yoooooou?” Berry, a smile plastered on his face, bounced around the first floor, looking for any sign of the two ponies who ran the establishment or their foals.

Curious. Usually at least one of them were in the kitchen at all times. Berry quit his bouncing, he didn’t like this…the uneasiness of it all. He trotted upstairs, his door was open. He never left his door open when he was out of the house…mainly because he had things in his room that the Cakes didn’t need to see.

Berry nudged open his door, inside Mr. And Mrs. Cake were sitting on his bed with a box sitting in front of them. Berry wasn’t sure what was going on here, but he didn’t like it.

“Berry, come in here please.” Mrs. Cake looked at him, the remnants of tears in her eyes. Berry did as he was asked and took a seat on the floor in front of the couple. “I-we need to talk to you…” Mrs. Cake turned to her husband, obviously signaling his turn.

“Berry, we’ve been looking over our bills.” Mr. Cake’s orange hoof pulled receipts and official looking bills from the box in front of him. “Now, we love you Berry-”

“Like you were our own.” His wife interjected quickly

“And the bakery isn’t doing too well, we’re spending a fortune on supplies and not selling it all.” Berry felt a knot form in the pit of his stomach, his Berry-sense was telling him bad news was about to be delivered. “We’re sorry, but we can’t let you live here for free anymore…we’re going to start charging you rent.” Berry’s mind, not wanting to accept the news it just heard, decided to remember the time he and Dashie saw ‘Rent’ on Mareway in Manehattan. Good musical, sad though…

“Or you can still live here for free…just, no more using our supplies for your parties.” Mrs. Cake said hopefully. “We know you like to throw parties, but you can’t waste supplies like that for free…” Berry’s mind decided to hear all of that, and shatter. No more parties…? B-But…parties. Who could not love a good party?

“It’s your decision, Berry. I want you to make it before tonight though, Ms. Sparkle rented out the whole bakery today. Her and her date will be coming around six, I want you taking orders.” Mr. Cake, obviously holding back any true emotion, picked up the box of financial matters and left the room.

Mrs. Cake trotted over to Berry and gave him a kiss on the forehead. A sad smile accompanied it, but Berry decided not to even acknowledge it…he was too stunned. He had to choose between sacrificing probably most-if not all- of his paycheck for one little room, or throwing the parties he loved and lived for. This was all so…overwhelming…he needed time to think. He needed to take a walk.

Mindlessly, he put food in Gummy’s bowl, then left. He didn’t know where he was going, he just wanted to walk. Maybe the boutique? Rarity was always there for him, maybe she could help…so his hooves carried him along that often-trodden path.

--

Rarity hummed as she sorted the fabrics she picked up from her suppliers. They were colors she didn’t have in stock, so needless to say they were hideous, so she had to get them from specialty stores. The customer may always be right, but sometimes the customer has horrible taste. She shivered when she looked at the puce and brown fabrics that were paired together.

Yes, on her way back she may have taken a little detour to make sure Sweetie Belle got to school safely. It wasn’t because she didn’t trust Berry…it was just she wanted to make sure her little sister didn’t steer the easily distractible stallion away from their destination. Luckily she didn’t, Sweetie was in school and Berry was talking to Cheerilee when she passed by.

Berry Bubble…the name conjured up a few feelings. Pride, friendship, love…strictly plutonic love! Not like…love-love. She loved the stallion like a little brother, he was just as goofy and had as many problems as one so it fit.

But she had to admit, she could see why Applejack fell for Berry. He was goofy, almost always in a good mood, carefree, and flamboyant as the day is long. Opposites attract, and those two were polar opposites…though sometimes that wasn’t a good thing, especially in their case.

She let her mind wander as she got some fabric off of a shelf and began cutting a pattern out. Her mind wandered to the bubbly pink stallion once again, this time about the makeover she was going to give him later today. First order of business was to straighten that mane out. She had only seen it at full-length once, and then it was quite long for a stallion. Then her and Sweetie would determine how much they would cut off, she was already thinking he would look oh so dapper with a Fancy Pants-esque hairstyle. Always a possibility.

Rarity’s finely tuned ears picked up the sound of her front door closing. No customers had appointments today, so she guessed it was one of her friends. Rarity pirouetted on her rear hooves, a hold over from the days when she took ballet, and left her work studio.

To her surprise, a bubblegum pink stallion was standing in her parlor. Now the sight was common nowadays, but she expected him to be at the bakery. It was Monday, yesterday was his day off.

“Berry, to what do I owe this visit? Did the Cakes send for more interior decorating help? I told them I cannot work with so many sweet-themed decorations.” Rarity sauntered over to her friend with a joking smile.

“Nah, the bakery’s closed for the day. Something about Twilight renting it out for later…a date or something like that.” Rarity’s brain connected the events. They were going to have a date….at Sugarcube Corner…where Berry works? Oh Applejack, that’s cold.

“O-Oh. Is that so?” Rarity fiddled with her mane, it was a nervous habit that she just couldn’t seem to break. It was a terrible giveaway.

“Yeah, I have to work as a waiter for her. I’m sure it will be fun though.” Berry’s trademark smile flashed at the thought of helping a friend on a date.

“You poor, clueless foal…” Rarity whispered under her breath.

“What was that?”

“O-Oh. I said: This design needs soul. Sorry dear, just going over some dresses in my head. You know me.” Good save, Rarity. “Now, are you here to discuss your makeover or is it something else?” Change the subject, even better save.

“Oh, yeah. The Cakes are going to start charging me rent…” Berry seemed saddened by the news, Rarity cocked an eyebrow.

“You didn’t pay rent before?” She was sure the Cakes would at least charge a little rent, not just provide room and board for free. Especially for Berry. He just shook his head. “How bad can it be, Berry? How much do you make and how much is rent?”

“Umm...I usually get one-thousand bits a month, and when I first moved in they were going to charge six hundred bit’s a month…but since I also got the job, they decided to just give me the room.” Rarity did the calculations in her head: one-thousand minus six hundred, four hundred. Times twelve…forty-eight hundred a year? That’s nothing! No one could live off of that!

“Oh dear…” This certainly was a predicament. She wanted to fault the Cakes, but the price was pretty on the nose…above the most popular bakery in Ponyville, full bath, walk in closet, view of main street. Berry’s little confirmed-bachelor pad was prime real estate. But she could fault them for such a meager paycheck. She knew they made good money off of the bakery and that Berry was a good worker…even if he could get distracted from time to time.

“Yeah…it’s either start paying rent or stop throwing parties…” Ooh that’s a low-blow, Cakes. Considering his cutie mark, this was a hard decision…and it was her duty as his friend to help him out.

“I’m sure we can figure something out. Do you have any money saved up?” It was a long-shot, but even Berry had to have a bank account. To her surprise, the stallion pulled an account book from seemingly nowhere and flipped it open.

“Well I’ve been saving all of my bits for the past six years…” Rarity once again did the calculations: One thousand times twelve, Twelve thousand. Twelve thousand times six…seventy-two thousand bits… “I have ninety thousand in savings…”

“W-What?”

“We all got those bits for saving Equestria, remember? Applejack and I saved ours, you all spent it.” Right. The ‘thanks for saving Equestria’ gifts. She had blown hers on a Canterlot weekend; the best hotel, the best spa, the best company. It had been marvelous.

“So why don’t you just pay rent? You have enough money. Celestia knows I wish I had that money.” Rarity sat down to keep herself from fainting. She knew earth ponies could be a bit frugal, but in Berry’s case it was ridiculous.

“Because it would drain my savings…Granny Pinkie always told me to save as much money as possible because you never know what life’s going to throw at you.” Berry gave a determined nod with his statement, obviously sticking to his grandmother’s principles.

“Berry…” Generosity quite frankly sucked, pardon the French. She was going to regret this later. “I have a guest room, if you want you can stay here with Sweetie and I.” Oh Rarity, what in Tartarus are you doing?