[Open] Day Off.

[szalhi]

It was a regular sunny day in Ponyville. A Sunday, a day normally reserved for rest and relaxation and so it was expected that the two mares were not working but were out in the park having a picnic. No, they were not lovers, not that way. They were sisters, twins to be exact. The white mare would occasionally write something down in the book of hers while the black mare was munching on the sandwiches that she had prepared herself. From an onlooker's perspective, they would appear to be a very quiet pair, physically gesturing towards each other occasionally, but no vocal sounds were to be heard. It wasn't necessarily by choice, but it was because these mares were incapable of making any vocal sounds at all; they were mute since birth. Despite their conditions, it did not stop them from making any conversation telepathically. An onlooker would also see the mixed magical field that appeared to surround them. If anypony were to enter this field than they would be able to hear their very conversations.

 

"So, these two mares come in off schedule and the Earth pony seems annoyed. She said her marefriend had a strange addiction that she tried to put up with, but it was getting annoying to her. The Unicorn initially denied ever having such an addiction," The black mare, Placidity informed her sister.

 

"Was it Lyra and Bon Bon? I heard from gossip about Lyra's supposed addiction to claws and such. Something about wanting to get some of her own," The white mare Tranquillity responded. "I'm assuming you resolved the issue?"

 

"It was Lyra," She confirmed before shaking her head. "Not quite yet. I got her to admit it but we haven't come to a full conclusion yet. They'll be coming back in two days."

 

"Of course, I wouldn't expect something like that to breeze over fast. Anyway, I've got an appointment in three days and I may be able to assist you on Tuesday."

 

Their job was mostly scheduled around appointments, but they also accepted sessions without them sometimes. On a day like today they had no appointments and so they decided to take the day off. It would be a shame if someone needed an emergency appointment, but their policy was quite set out.

[Kilojoules]

Lost in his thoughts on why his dad would send him all the way to Ponyville to sell their excess honey, Shimmer wandered about park in a somewhat lackadaisical manner. In one arm were a small stack of petite jars filled to the brim with ooey, gooey golden honey. Maybe, the blue-scaled dragon began to himself, this is another one of his attempts to socialize me? While it was true that, at first, Shimmer had a hard time being around the various ponies of Appleoosa, but now he got along fine with all of them! Either way, Shimmer was going to have to get rid of all of this honey somehow.

 

There were an unsurprising amount of ponies about, given what day it was, so it wasn't particularly difficult for the teenaged dragon to start unloading his product. Once he was down to merely three jars by the time he came across a pair of mares that seemed to be having some sort of picnic. A perfectly good chance to enjoy some honey, surely? While it was easy enough to approach ponies one by one, Shimmer wasn't entirely sure if it was appropriate to interrupt what seemed to be a group outting - not to mention, there was the strange magic field around the two...

 

"Well," Shimmer took a deep breath as he surveyed the two from around a tree bend. It was a few moments before he released the breath, a small, discrete bit of flame spurting from the too-forceful sigh. "here goes nothing." Shimmer began approaching the two, attempting to put on a smile that wasn't too... toothy. "Hi! Would either of you be interested in some, uh, honey? It's fresh, all the way from Appleoosa!" he offered to the mares, one jar in each claw.

[szalhi]

The pair of them looked over to the figure that was approaching them. How peculiar. A dragon. Not exactly a species one would expect to see around here, besides Spike the outlier, but in this town, anything seemed to be possible. The two of them looked each other before nodding before they expanded their range to cover the dragon as well. 

 

"Honey from Appleloosa? Well, it wouldn't be far fetched to produce non apple related products in that town. It's not like their exclusive or anything," Tranquility thought out loud in the synthetic-ish sounding voice of the spell. 

 

"Appleloosa isn't really that close enough to here to really be fresh is it? I mean, it really depends on what one would call fresh," Placidity added on eying the jars. 

 

"Does honey have much of a freshness? I mean we haven't tried enough honey in our life to become experts on that," Tranquility replied before realising. "When was the last time we had honey?" 

 

"A year ago. It never came up to have any more. Are you suggesting we purchase some of this product from this nice dragon? Would be quite the complement to this meal of ours." 

 

"I wasn't sure before, but I am now." Tranquility turned up to the dragon. "What brings a dragon around to this quaint little town?" 

 

"Besides the selling of your product she means, which we will be purchasing. What an effective business trick to choose the mares who are enjoying a meal, assuming it was one."

 

 

[Kilojoules]

The expanding magical field startled Shimmer at first, and the young dragon nearly withdrew. If it weren't for the two voices suddenly in his head, he might have truly left - but, Shimmer was familiar with how varied and... weird unicorn magic could be. After his momentary surprise he regained his composure, though even that was a tad awkward as he continued his spiel. "Well, honey doesn't expire like other foods - there has been honey thousands of years old found which is still edible!"

 

Shimmer further approached so the two didn't have to strain their magic too much and stopped just at the edge of their blanket. Carefully, he set down the two jars and gestured to each one. "These aren't the same kinda honey. One is processed so it's all like... oopy-goopy, but the other is raw. It's got a grainy texture, but both are primarily apple-nectar. Unsurprisingly, that's mostly what our little bees pollinate." Shimmer explained, but with the two almost monologue-ing back and forth the teen appeared somewhat distracted. 

 

A moment passed between their question and Shimmer's answer as he tried to catch up with the mares' trains of thought. After giving himself some time to formulate his answer, Shimmer replied, "Well, uh, how kind of you to ask! My dad is a beekeeper and he usually comes up here to sell our product - wax and honey - to the general store and some other various ponies." Shimmer gives a sheepish look to the two before he continues, "This time he, uh, didn't have a list of who wanted the honey but he sent me up here to sell some. I think he wanted me to try and socialize."

[szalhi]

"Honey thousands of years old that's still edible? That sounds about right. We've read that before haven't we?" Tranquillity watched the dragon approach them, almost like he wanted the field to be smaller. "Our telepathy has become a regular part of our life that I think we could broadcast over the entire town without too much effort, not that we've really tried." 

 

"Ten years ago we read that in a book somewhere. I don't think it really matters what book," Placidity answered her sister. "Are you suggesting that we do such that? Send a public PSA that can be heard by anyone in this town, but the wildlife outside won't be disturbed." 

 

"You know very well that I wasn't suggesting that. But yeah that could work," Tranquility privately replied to her sister. "Well, I guess we would have to get both kinds to truly experience the differences." 

 

Placidity noticed the amount of rambling that the two of them were doing and the effect it seemed to have on the dragon. "Oh sorry, you don't have to pay attention to half the things we say. It's just a thing that we like to do with our natural connection. Although it would be hard for you to know what half that you should be paying attention to. Funny the most verbal mares are the least capable of traditional speech."

 

"Yes, we're not going to completely attempt to cut down on it because we know it's not really going to work very well," Tranquility added on. "So your dad comes around here? What's his name? We don't really see many other dragons around here. Unless he's not a dragon and you're speaking in terms of adoption." 

 

"I'm sure it would be in the local news if an adult dragon came to this town, especially if it happened a couple of years ago." Placidity eyed the dragon. "So are you admitting that you do not get much socialisation? Why do you think that is?" 

[Kilojoules]

Shimmer nodded his head slowly as the two telepathic mares spoke with him. After a couple of moments awkwardly standing up while the other sat, the teen decided to join them - though he stayed on the grass so as not to disturb their blanket. "Oh, no, you're right on the spot - it's an adoption. My dad's Honeyhoof, he's an older stallion? Wears one of those goofy hats that the Appleoosan ponies like so much. It's been a couple months since he was here last, but I don't think he does much outside of his business here." he told the two before reaching into the small bag at his side - likely where he'd been stashing the honey during his transit. From it, Shimmer produces a small portrait in a simple oaken frame depicting said stallion. The background shows a lush but well-maintained garden with many beehives scattered about.

 

When Placidity inquires about Shimmer's socialization issues the teen appears slightly embarrassed. "Oh, um - I do socialize, it's just... it's mostly with the Appleoosan ponies. They're good folks but they're a monoculture - lots of the same ideals and values. I might be, uh, just kicking in the dark on this but I guess he wants me to meet different kinds of ponies." After answering Shimmer bites on his lip in contemplation, one sharp fang clearly in view. Shortly after he vocalizes, the tone introspective and directed nowhere in particular, "Is that weird? I feel like I should be embarrassed about that. Plus - I don't wanna unload my weird emotional baggage on you nice ponies. That would be rude. I think?"

 

It's apparent that, despite his previous encounters with ponykind, this dragon still hasn't entirely grasped the finer points of social interaction. That, or the telepathic mares' monologues are contagious.

[szalhi]

"HoneyHoof, I swear I've never heard that name before. I might have seen him before, but like you said, that would have been a while back. Those 'goofy hat' you say are a big staple of the Apple family, it's more than just an Appleloosan thing," Tranquillity said examining the image.  

 

"Maybe we don't socialise enough? Or the timing is just completely wrong because we're not always in this town. The wealthy pay a lot just to bring us over to their estates," Placidity added on to her sister. "I would guess that a town on the frontier wouldn't have much to develop in their culture. I've heard they're really friendly with newcomers, probably because of this."

 

"Anyway, this town is pretty good if you want some diversity. It's like a city, except smaller. That's one of the reasons why we moved here is so that we could get a variety of clients. I couldn't ever imagine living in Canterlot, the social diversity isn't really that great. Ponyville is also very calm, just like ourselves."

 

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. I'd say that you have more social skills than most dragons do. But that's coming from the perspective of a pony so the validity of my opinion might not be saying much," Placidity reassured the dragon. "It's in our jobs to take in the 'weird emotional baggage' as you would call it."

 

"But please, if you must, we weren't particularly expecting to do much work today. That's why we're out here instead of in the office," Tranquillity asked the dragon. 

[Kilojoules]

Shimmer dipped his head forward apologetically as he tells the two, "Right, of course - sorry! I didn't mean to bother you two on your day off." Briefly he leans forward and further pushes the jars he had set down towards them. "One jar is usually five bits, but since you put up with my intrusion for this long you can have them both. I'm guessing my dad didn't really have any orders since he gave me less than he usually takes up, which would also explain why he didn't give me the manifest, heh." the teen gestures idly before beginning to re-latch his small bag. Judging by the bulge in it, he likely still has a few jars left anyhow.

 

When he prepares to stand, he huffs out a short breath from the admittedly small effort. The tiny tuft of flame that comes out is blue and shimmery, not unlike his general motif. With a toothy smile he tells Placidity and Tranquility, "If you are ever in Appleoosa for some reason, you should come stop by - I do star tours when the sun goes down, if that's the sort of thing that interests you." 

[RoanQuake]

Just as the dragon got up, he was met by the peculiar presence of a large and hefty red unicorn stallion. Roan Quake's thoughts were often very simplistic, his mind wandered from distraction to distraction. One moment it was a bird, the next it was the turn of a doorknob, all were sources of entertainment that were met with varying degrees of satisfaction until one sight caught his beady black eyes. What drew Roan's attention wasn't the dragon or the telepathic field that surrounded the scaly fellow and the two mares, it was the jars of honey that the fire-breather was carrying which made the mostly red pony stick out his tongue in anticipation, his ears flicked as though shooing away a fly. While he was silent, the telepathic field would have been a gateway of the myriad of thoughts that now flooded his strange mind.

 

Honey. Dragon. Honey-carrying dragon. Honey... Sweet... hungry... must have. must have. must have. Have bread, bring bread. Bring honey. Make better. Must Eat. Hungry. Castle. Castle waiting. Must return. Hungry. Must eat. Eat now. Return later. Bits. Have no bits. Need bits. Must hurry. Must go to castle. Must fix castle. Must eat.

 

The mental struggle that looped made the blank fleshy-faced pony somewhat teary, as he couldn't come to a clear decision.