Chonico

LONG LIVE THE SOLAR EMPIRE!

I enjoyed the article for its neutrality. The comments made me laugh though. Given the average audience of Wall Street Journal, or at least whom I assume to be the audience, I am not surprised by the comments.

Still, very well done article.

You have my most sincere sympathy for your lose and I hope that brighter days follow. It is rare that we take the time to appreciate what we have, until we feel the sting of loss. Cherish and value the good memories, as well as the bad, because in the end that is all we have. Honor every aspect of their being, and they will never truly stop being at your side.

Howdy ya'll!

I am well aware that the due date for these stories is the 5th of November. I am trying vigorously to finish this on time. However, do to some unforeseen events, I am covering some shifts at work in order to help alleviate the stress of a co-worker brought on by home issues.

This has eaten away a lot of the time I was hoping to devote to this story and as such, I do not know if I will be able to finish it on time. I am trying but in order to write the story I want to write, I am reviewing and rewriting a lot and well... yeah... you get what I'm saying. I do not which (lol, typo... Like a baws) to sacrifice quality (what little I may actually have instilled into this project of mine) by rushing to try and finish.

I do intend to finish, one way or another, even if I cannot meet the dateline for the contest. Its not about winning but mainly the fun I'm having letting my fingers write without limit and my imagination stretch its legs. That being said, I will still try and finish something "decent" for the event, but the whole story will continue.

If you are interested on following it, please feel free to drop by here and take a gander every now and then

Probably before. I mean, people eat cooked carrots. Also, when you put pineapple on pizza it doesn't burn. I imagine the same principal would apply to carrots. Also, what about things like green peppers and onions? Those are regular things that go on pizza, and they are also vegetables, so they would probably eat those as toppings as well.

True, I guess you could put the toppings on before. I think though it would dry them out a bit. I imagine the carrots would have to be steamed or boiled already before going in because I don't think dry carrots would fair too well. But yes, a plethora of veggies and such are available to them.

Whether toppings would go on before or after depends on the topping, I think - my understanding is that some do well when cooked, but others not so much. Like Tales said, the carrots would probably be okay; but hay? I dunno what happens when you cook hay, but it's already pretty dry.

That's kind of what I was thinking too. Hay is already dry so I think it would just burn in the oven. I mean, those are 380- 400 degree ovens, assuming their like the ones similar to when I worked at Pizza Hut. I guess though, you could put in fresh hay and dry it out while on the pizza, no? Would that even work?

We need a pony eating pizza episode to answer all these questions!

Every day I'm shuffling~

Makes me want to shuffle too~

But I keep getting rug burns on my hooves~

So I stop the shuffling~

... And smile instead because of your shuffling Discord

(tore-tea-yacht... I love tacos!)

I think there would be pizza in Equestria.I mean, they seem to have plenty of the essential junk foods like hay fries, pastries, popcorn, and candy in general. Why not pizza?

I like to think the most popular toppings would be hay or maybe carrots... though. Would you put those toppings on before or after you throw the pizza in the oven? I imagine after. No sense burning the toppings on the pizza, right? Actually, now I'm kind of curious to try carrots on a pizza as a topping. Would they use cheese? They have cows, so I imagine milk is a regular staple. Hmmm...

I will admit that pizza is not my favorite food though. In fact, its my least favorite of all. I blame my employment at Pizza Hut when I was younger. Nothing against them, great pizza and all. But after being around the stuff for a year or so, it kind of looses its appeal and just becomes... Blah. I actually avoid eating the stuff now, but when I used to eat it more regularly my favorite toppings were onions, pineapple, ham, and green olives. Every now and then a few sardines too.

Gruesome buns enjoyment

“Nonsense! Being unapproachable is only the predecessor to a proper introduction… Besides, admirers are not limited to aspects of beauty, but open to merit, duty, and character. I would be hard pressed to believe that no pony has ever given you a compliment for either.” He let out a little chuckle and smiled at her attempt to smile. It was weak, but at least she was smiling a bit.

Clay continued sitting and observed Silversword make her selection. He couldn’t help notice that as she stared back at him, she looked somewhat unsure. The piece was a fine piece, part of what had once been a 5 piece set but…

“Hmm, interesting selection… It’s for her parents so, I wonder?”

He cocked his head a bit to the side allowing one of his ears to go limp and flap against his face.

“That one is an interesting selection, M’Lady Silversword…” He addressed her apparently misinterpreting what she meant when she said not to refer to her with such a formal title. “That was a commissioned 5 piece set requested by a rather interesting pony I meet at the most recent Grand Galloping Gala. You see, she is a hippochamp, a sea pony.”

Clay trotted over to his cart and pulled out another box with wrapped up pottery piece in newspaper. He took two out and began to un-wrap them to reveal one similar tea cup to the one Silversword had selected and a matching tea pot, which he then gingerly picked up and placed in front of her.

“Funny thing though, when the commission was finished and I went to deliver, she was ecstatic. Simply livid about receiving her tea set until we realized one small think we forgot… Tea and water do not mix well… Well, technically they do but it is rather hard to serve tea while underwater, would you not agree?”

At this point Clay let out a hardy laugh and stared at the 3 pieces he had out in front of himself and Silversword.

“She kept two of the cups though, for next time I stop by for tea. So, because of that, the set is not complete…”

This time around, Clay’s expression changed a bit as he looked at the pieces. His face showed a hint of uneasiness with curiosity. He brought up his hoof to his chin and gave it a few taps before speaking again.

“The pieces are for your parents, right M’Lady Silversword? May I ask about them? Also, if I may make a suggestion, I may have something more worthy in mind.”

Welp, I did it. Took advantage that he was taking a shower and that he left his computer on.

Took him two days till he finally felt the need to seek answers. Went something like this...

Bro - Hay, what's up with all this pony and hoof and mare thing on my computer?

Me - *feign mild curiosity* Huh?

Bro - My computer, everything I read online is weird...

Me - Oh! Yeah, that, forgot to mention that we took over the internet.

Bro - ... Bull

Me - Okay, if you say so.

Bro - No that's not possible, you did something to it.

Me - Fine fine, you got me... We didn't take over the internet.

Bro - A**! I knew it! Fix it right now.

Me - I can't. We didn't take over the internet, just Firefox.

Bro - Huh?

Me - Yeah, basically the Brony community took a vote and we asked our Bronies at Firefox and they were more than glad to come up with a mod to change their web browser. It was originally a vote to take over the internet or not, but we decided to give you guys a chance to surrender peacefully. You can turn it off, but it will automatically turn on again after a while. Get you used to the transition slowly.

Bro - ... Bull

Me - You keep saying that and yet the truth is in the muffin.

Bro - Pudding, its in the pudding.

Me - Not anymore...

Bro - *doubtful look*

Me - *shrug and go back to playing Batman Arkham City*

Bro - Damn it... Turn it off for me then.

So, every now and then I go back when he's not around and turn it back on, and then listen to him mumble curses at Firefox. I know I should feel sort of bad about this but I think Trollestia would be proud. Plus, its harmless and I'll let him off the hook on Nightmare Night when we are eating the leftover candies that we didn't give out

Oh, about 4 years ago or so... I was in the kitchen making a sandwich. I was washing the lettuce while the toaster toasted my bread. You know, like toasters tend to do. Any who, the toaster was a bit overzealous and decided to burn my toast. Like a foal, I stopped washing my lettuce and went to stop what I assumed was going to be the second time I burned toast. I think it was my pride or something about it being the second time I would fail to make toast. But, point is I hadn't even bothered to dry my hooves.

I still don't know what possessed me to do so, but instead of popping the plastic handle on the outside of the toaster (you know, like a smart pony) I reached for the cord with my left hoof while I placed my soaking wet right hoof ON TOP OF THE TOASTER... Dunno, maybe some part of me just thought "HAY, smoke... water... wet hoof... water trump smoke!" But yeah, a zap later I'm on the kitchen floor on my knees with the cord kung-fu gripped in my left hoof, toaster and burnt toast on the floor, breathing like a maniac while my heart thundered in my ears and my right arm refused to stop tingling and feeling numb. Kind of like when your arm falls asleep but not.

I took a few minutes to take stock of the facts that one, I was not dead. Two, I was incredibly INCREDIBLY foalish beyond belief. And three, I suddenly didn't feel like eating a sandwich anymore.

Needless to say, I'm much more careful about making my toast for sandwiches.

Sweet Celestia! I'm so going to use this to mess with my brother

Of course, all in good fun though...

>_>

<_<

Bwahahaha

The sun was setting to the west, allowing what little sunlight was left to shine through at an angle underneath the overcast that seemed so prevalent to keep the Crimson Rose in the shadows for the most part of the day. As Celestia continued to lay the sun to rest for the night, and Luna prepared the moon and the stars, the kitchen of the decrepit house found itself bathed in an orange and red glow. For the first time of the day, the kitchen actually felt warm. There was still a cold air about it, but it felt a few degrees above freezing at least.

*munch munch* “I wonder if this is some sort of taboo or something… Eating dinner at a breakfast nook.”

Klondike sat quietly next to the wind chime in the breakfast nook, listening to the occasional twinkle from it while enjoying a daffodil and daisy sandwich with a cup of coffee for dinner. The evening breeze that came in through the open window caused the metal rods to clink against each other in what seemed to be a concert intended just for him. It was a cool breeze, but compared to the coldness of the rest of the house, it was bearable and welcomed because it brought with it the smells from the nearby Whitetail Woods. That smell, the warmth from the setting sun, and the music from the wind chime was making it one of the most enjoyably relaxing dinners that Klondike had had in a while.

*sip* “Well, I won’t tell anypony if you don’t.” He gave a gentle tap at one of the metallic rods of the wind chime while he gingerly balanced his coffee cup on his other hoof and took another sip from it.

He couldn’t help but laugh at his own joke and as he set his coffee cup down on the floor and took a long gaze out the window towards the dwindling sunlight as he let his thoughts wonder back to the events of the day …

------------------------------------------

The basement of the Crimson Rose had been rather dark and cold. The two small windows, high near the roof, had been too obscured by grim and dirt to let hardly any light in from the outside. Not like there was much to begin with anyways.

Klondike, who had yet not been able to shake the feeling that somepony else was in the house, had to return upstairs and go outside to fetch a few lamps which he brought back with him, and spread out around the floor of the basement. He had requested battery operated lamps, but a mix-up with his order ended up with him receiving old style oil lamps and a note telling him to get with the times.

He took it in good spirits though and figured that afterwards he would simply use them as décor for the outside porch or something like that. But for now, they would have to make due.

When he returned with the oil lamps however, the basement seemed to have gotten colder than he remembered and whenever he tried to strike a match to light the lamps, a sudden breeze would pick up out of nowhere and blow it out. He had tried several times but it always ended the same way. He could have sworn that no matter which way he used his hooves to protect the flame, the wind always found its way to it. In the end, he decided to cut his losses and went back up stairs to get his hat with the flash light on top from his satchels in the kitchen.

After returning triumphantly from his excursion to retrieve the hat, or so he made it seem that way from how he trotted down the stairs and struck a pose, he proceeded to inspect the foundations of the Crimson Rose. Careful inspection led him to conclude that although the house looked ready to fall, it really was nowhere near that point.

The foundations throughout the years had held remarkably well and only one section needed minor reinforcement.

It was a welcomed surprise and one that he constantly remarked upon every few minutes by saying how homes weren’t built to last like this anymore, and how excited he was to try and restore some of its former glory to it. Still, admiration was no excuse for laziness or a poor job.

Having taken the time to do a second inspection to make sure he didn’t miss anything, he was content with what he saw so he made his way back upstairs and proceeded to do the next thing required to start fixing up the place… Clean.

Admittedly, Klondike was not the most apt of ponies when it came to cleaning up. It was not that he was a messy pony by nature, but mainly that he was absentminded about such things. Back at his repair shop, once a repair job was done, he jumped on to the next item on his list and so forth until the late hours of the night and sometimes well into the morning. By the time he finally got around to cleaning up, he was always too tired to do a decent job and would settle for a “cluttered” workspace while making plans to clean it up later after another job. Funny how that cycle always seemed to repeat itself.

Still, he knew of his own shortcomings, so he had prepared for such an occurrence by placing notes in specific spots inside his satchel which he knew he would access first. It only made sense that he clean up the place beforehoof as to avoid tripping over debris and such, seeing as he would be adding to the mess once he started bringing down walls, plaster, pulling floorboards and such.

Admittedly though, for somepony like Klondike who lacked daily practice in such a chore, cleaning up a place that had fallen to decades of disuse was a tall order.

It took him almost the entire day to clean up the kitchen, foyer, dining room, and living room. He had filled a lot of buckets with debris which he took out to a small cart outside to be dumped properly when the job was done. Old curtains had been brought down, floors had been swept, windows cleaned, and cobwebs removed.

The entire first floor of the Crimson Rose was ready to be worked on. The second floor would have to wait for the next day.

It had been a good hard day’s work… and yet, there was one thing that kept bothering him.

Klondike was an annoyingly absentminded pony. While focusing on a job, a party could form around him and he wouldn’t be the wiser, his twitching right ear appearing to be the only subconscious part of him aware that anything was going on at all. It wasn’t that he did it on purpose; on the contrary, he always tried his best to not let his work consume his thoughts or let his thoughts wonder too much. In fact, since moving to Ponyville he had improved a great deal, but it was still a rather annoying flaw in his character. He knew that such a job as his current one would consume his thoughts entirely. It was a fact.

A fact which only made it stranger that he had not been able to shake the feeling that somepony else was in the house with him.

Since entering the Crimson Rose, his right ear had hardly stopped twitching while a nagging feeling at the back of his mind told him that he was not alone. It had been such an odd occurrence for Klondike, that at one point he stopped what he was doing and did a quick search of the house from basement to attic, looking for the mare.

That had been another strange thing about the whole thing. For whatever reason, he was convinced he was looking for a mare. Constantly referring to the pony in question as a “her” and a “she.” However, when his search for the pony turned up empty, he had decided that perhaps he was more tired and hungry than he realized and that he should finish cleaning up and continue the search the following day.

And now, as he sat absentmindedly looking out the window, the feeling that somepony else was still in the house was stronger than before…

---------------------------------

*twinkle*

“Hmm? Oh yeah, such a nice dinner, thank you for the wonderful music... Would be nice to have some company except… hmm, I wonder what they’d say about the whole breakfast nook dinner thingy?”

No sooner had Klondike said this that he suddenly felt an icy chill run down his back. He turned around to see behind him. There was nothing there except for his satchels near the corner and the lamp he had brought in for light.

“I’d say I used to do it all the time…”

Klondike was right to think somepony else was there with him.

Wind-Chime had been sitting next to him since he sat down to eat his dinner. In fact, the entire day she and her brother Crimson had been hot on his tail following him around the house. Her brother though, had insisted that she keep further away from him but she had been too excited by the prospect of having somepony new to talk to and didn’t pay attention to him. The excitement was not shared by her brother.

They had been arguing the entire day, back and forth, about the odd blue coated pony with the icy blue mane that had entered their house. She honestly couldn’t recall the last time her and Crimson argued like that before. She couldn’t understand her brother’s animosity towards the pony trying to fix their home. He was obviously not trying to harm the house, and had even taken the time to clean it up.

Her brother though kept arguing against him and even warned her not to get too cozy around the odd pony. Needless to say, she wasn’t at all happy about that and in the end, they split up to cool their hoofs. Crimson returned to the attic, while she remained observing Klondike.

And now, as she sat down trying to pat Klondike on the back, only to have her hoof go through him, she couldn’t help but wonder if indeed she was being silly about the whole thing.

*sigh* “Maybe Crimson is right. I am being stubborn about all this...” She couldn’t help but look sad as she observed Klondike take another bite of his sandwich and shiver a bit.

*twinkle*

She looked away from Klondike and up at her beloved wind chime. It was glowing in the last rays of the setting sun and thanks to Klondike’s care, it looked as beautiful as she remembered it. She couldn’t help but smile warmly at it and the pony responsible for it.

“Thank you… for cleaning my wind chime. It looks and sounds beautiful.”

“Yup, it definitely is a beauty…” Klondike picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip from it as he looked at the wind chime.

Wind-Chime’s jaw nearly hit the floor. She stood up and floated over to look at Klondike directly in the eyes as he took another sip of his coffee. It looked like he was looking right back at her.

“C-can you hear me?” She asked with a hint of hope in her voice but Klondike simply turned to look out the window and took yet another sip of his coffee. Wind-Chime’s hopes immediately deflated and she sat down in front of him with an even sadder expression across her face as she turned to look out the window as well.

“I-I… I guess not huh?” The room temperature dropped even more and she could hear Klondike shiver some more.

“You should close the window now… Don’t want you getting sick because of me.” She said as she looked down at the floor and tried to prevent a sniffle from escaping. She wasn’t very successful.

*…sniff…*

*twinkle*

Klondike’s right ear twitched a bit as he set his now empty coffee cup on the floor and stood up to walk over to the window and close it. Wind-Chime simply looked up startled and observed him carefully as he walked back over to his spot and lay down while folding his legs underneath himself instead of sitting. He wore a content look across his face as he began to nibble some more on his sandwich, not bothering to lift the plate from the floor. She simply kept looking at him, a confused expression replacing the sad one.

“Huh?...” Wind-Chime slowly lay down as well and folded her hooves underneath herself, mimicking Klondike.

“My, what a relaxing evening it is tonight.” She commented as she looked at Klondike appraisingly.

“Yup, definitely relaxing. I should fix the kitchen first so that way I can have more relaxing evenings like tonight.” He commented as he thoughtfully chewed on his sandwich.

Wind-Chime blinked a few times and then practically squeaked with delight. If she couldn’t have an actual conversation with the pony, she would at least try to improvise and pretend.

“But you did such a great job cleaning the house so far. My brother may not appreciate it but I do!”

Klondike took another bite of his sandwich and continued to chew thoughtfully.

“And these sandwiches you brought are delicious. Are these your favorite?”

“Sweet Celestia these are good sandwiches. Should have stopped by that restaurant and picked up more.”

Wind-Chime looked at what was left of the sandwich on the plate and simply smiled at Klondike.

“No worries about it. We can share if you don’t mind. I don’t eat much…” She paused for a second as she thought about what she just said and slightly giggled. “Actually, I don’t eat at all! Hehe!”

She stomped her hoof on the floor a few times and then smiled while she took a bite of the sandwich on the plate. Of course her teeth just phased through the sandwich, but she still pretended like she was chewing and enjoying it.

“Mmm, these are good! You’ll have to show me where you get them from one of these days.”

Wind-Chime continued to pretend to be chewing and taking bites from the sandwich as Klondike actually took bites from it and chewed. She was timing it so that they never both took a bite from the sandwich at the same time. She couldn’t help but to smile and giggle constantly since she was truly enjoying herself. She had already forgotten the argument with her brother.

------------------------------------------------

Time flew by and before either of them realized it, the sun had already set and Klondike could not help but let out a long yawn as he finished the last of his sandwich. It was infectious, and even though Wind-Chime couldn’t be tired, or breathe for that matter, she could not help but try and stifle her own yawn.

“This has been a very enjoyable evening. Thank you for the company.” She tried to stifle another yawn and looked across at Klondike as he then tried to stifle his own. “Hehe, you made me yawn so I made you yawn.”

Klondike looked at his empty coffee cup and turned his head to look at his almost empty tin coffee pot. Wind-Chime followed his cue and looked at the empty coffee cup with a small pout.

“Oh dear, maybe some more coffee would help keep me awake. Could I bother you for another cup of coffee? You simply make it divine.”

And if on cue, Klondike poured the last drops from his coffee pot and set it back down again where it was.

“Ah, thank you! You are such a gentlepony.” She said with a flirtatious smile and proceeded to pretend to take a sip from the coffee cup on the floor. She had been too caught up in the moment and didn’t realize Klondike was doing the same.

She suddenly found herself with her muzzle touching his, as they both tried to drink from the same cup at the same time. Klondike’s icy blue eyes seemed to be staring deep into hers and she could feel her face growing hot. She froze for a few seconds as her own eyes looked straight back into his. They had a gentleness and kindness about them that seemed to pull her further in.

Wind-Chime quickly pulled her head back up, flustered, and sat up on her haunches as she began to look awkwardly around the kitchen, her hoofs trying to conceal the blushing she felt across her muzzle. It was a feeling, nothing more, she doubted ghost could blush but it was more a reflex than anything.

“I’m so sorry! I wasn’t paying attention and-“ She stopped as she noticed Klondike roll over onto his side and lay very still.

“OH MY GOODNESS! ARE YOU OKAY? ARE YOU-“

Klondike’s chest rose and fell as a shallow but steady snoring began to emanate from him.

“You’re asleep!? How? You drank a whole pot of coffee a-and you fell asleep?!”

She watched him shift a bit to make himself more comfortable. There was a content, but tired expression on his face as he continued to sleep soundly.

“B-but… I wanted to talk some more a-and I didn’t mean to kis-“ She stopped as she continued to watch him sleep. He looked so peaceful, content, and tired at the same time.

Wind-Chime let out a sigh and looked around the kitchen. She had observed him clean the whole first floor of the house, and tomorrow he had much more work to do. He had put a lot of effort into his work and she doubted tomorrow would be any different. Was it really fair for her to want him to stay up longer to talk? Could she even justify it seeing as it had been one long, one-sided conversation? She let out another sigh and stepped over to stand next to the sleeping pony as she looked down at him with a kind expression on her face. She kept looking at him for a few minutes.

“Maybe tomorrow we can do this again. Thank you for all your hard work and for talking with me umm…”

*mumble* “Mmm-name’s Klondike…”

Wind-Chime’s expression changed to surprise as she continued to look down at Klondike.

“E-e-excuse me?!”

“Klondike…Miss?...” Klondike replied through mumbles and snores.

“W-Wind-Chime…” She replied hesitantly as she continued to blink in disbelief at what was going on.

*mumble* “Beautiful… voice…” With that, Klondike shifted one more time and continued to snore more deeply.

Wind-Chime just continued to stare in disbelief. He had told her his name and he even asked for hers. A whole evening of her pretending to talk to him and now that he was sound asleep, he was actually talking to her. She could not help but think it was some kind of prank being done by her brother Crimson to get back at her for the argument they had earlier.

That had to be it.

He was hiding under the floorboards mimicking the pony’s voice and talking to her like it was him. Well, she would have none of it. She was going to give him a piece of her mind.

Wind-Chime immediately stuck her head through the floorboards and immediately jerked her head back out after noticing a distinct lack of her brother Crimson. She looked up at the roof, around the kitchen, but there was no sign of him. She looked back at the sleeping form of Klondike near her hooves, blinking several times in disbelief.

“K-Klondike?”

“Mhmmm?...”

It was not possible. And yet, here it was. Had so many years of solitude with no one to talk to but her brother, finally had an effect on her?

She hesitantly reached a hoof out to touch him. She didn’t know why, but her hoof seemed to be moving on its own. It slowly inched its way towards his raising and falling side. She couldn’t stop, even if she wanted to.

She touched him. It was solid and… warm?

Wind-Chime’s expression was unreadable. Almost blank with shock at what she was doing. She was touching Klondike. Her hoof wasn’t going through him like before and she could actually feel the warmth of his body. She just kept her hoof on him for what felt like an eternity as she felt his side rise and fall. She was mesmerized by it.

She was suddenly hesitant to pull her hoof away, afraid that if she did she wouldn’t be able to touch him again. So instead, sitting down on her haunches, she took her other hoof and tried to touch him with it as well. Again, it was solid and warm, and she now had both of her hooves resting on Klondike’s side.

Her face was suddenly ecstatic. She had both her hooves on Klondike and they weren’t going through him.

Hesitantly, she raised one hoof while keeping the other on him and then brought it back down. It was still solid, she could still touch him. She immediately repeated the process with her other hoof and again had the same result.

Back and forth she went from one hoof to the other and pretty soon it looked like she was beating a steady beat on Klondike’s side, as if he were a drum of sorts. She was giggling the entire time, looking joyfully at the pony in front of her whom she was able to touch.

Wind-Chime was being as gentle as she could, not wanting to disturb the sleeping pony. She didn’t want to hurt him, and she didn’t want him wake up, but she didn’t want to give up the wonderful sensation of being able to touch another pony. It looked more like she was giving him a gentle massage rather than a beating. She felt like she could keep doing that for the entire night.

She probably would have, except…

“CHIME?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”

“EEEP!”

Crimson’s head had suddenly shot through the roof of the ceiling as he called out to her. In her fright, Wind-Chime pulled her hooves from Klondike’s side and raised them up to her mouth to prevent her from screaming louder than she already had. Klondike had been talking to her just a couple of minutes ago. Or was it an hour? She had lost track of time and honestly didn’t want to wake him up if he could still hear her.

“I wasn’t doing anything Crimmy!”

“Why are you sitting so close to him!? I told you not to get too comfortable around him!”

Wind-Chime shot him a glare that made him cringe and dropped the temperature in the kitchen a few degrees. As soon as she heard Klondike shiver though, she turned around to look at him and tried to calm down.

“Shhhh! I was only watching him sleep Crimmy… I don’t want to wake him up.”

“Wake him up?! He. Can’t. Hear. You. Or. See. You!”

“You’re wrong…”

“What?...”

She was about to tell him about her entire experience that night, but decided against it, choosing to try and convince him of Klondike's good intentions one last time.

“He really is a nice pony. So far he’s been nothing but kind, gentle, and hardworking. Why can’t you see that? I mean, look at this place. He cleaned it up in one day. Imagine how much better our house will look tomorrow, or the day after that?”

Crimson though, just continued to look down from the roof and after a minute, he let out a defeated grunt and looked at his sister with the outmost level expression he could muster.

“Fine… We’ll let him work. Just-“ He stopped himself mid-sentence as he noticed his sister staring at him. His head slowly began to disappear back into the roof again.

“Goodnight…” He called out right before he vanished completely.

“I love you big brother…”

“Love you too little sis…”

With that, the kitchen was once again vacant with the exception of Klondike and Wind-Chime. Klondike, however, was still shivering as the kitchen seemed to get colder and colder. The source of it though, was quite obvious. Wind-Chime had just realized she had removed her hooves off of Klondike and was desperately trying to lay them on him again.

Her hooves effortlessly went right through him as they had before.

After several attempts, she stopped all together and remained sitting next to Klondike, sadly looking at him. She was doing her best not to bring up her hooves up to her face to try and dry tears she knew would not be there. She was afraid that if she did, she might miss the opportunity again to touch him like she had before. But, after a while, she sadly decided that she should just return to the attic for the night, and let him sleep comfortably without her being there to turn the room into an ice box.

Wind-Chime let out a few sniffles as she floated up into the roof, and the wind chime let out a twinkle as its owner vanished.

Klondike groggily opened one eye and looked around for a second, a concerned expression slightly forming on his face for no reason he could discern in his half asleep state before he closed his eye and went back to sleep.

I loved the episode!

Twilight: "Pinkie Pie! You're a genius!"

Pinkie Pie: "No I'm not, I'm a chicken."

As simplistic as that was, I laughed so hard. Also... DERPY OMG!

If I recall correctly, I think mine were something along the lines of...

"You were curious about the ponies on DA, you might as well pay for your curiosity and watch an episode."

Then that was followed by the classic, "One more won't hurt."

Clay continued to sit quietly after his introduction and stared at Silversword with a gentle but content smile. He would not mention it, but was kind of expecting something from the mare.

“Hmm, most ponies would give their names as well when introductions are done. But maybe she’s not much for the social scene? Perhaps it is a militant thing I am not aware of. Hmm, maybe more business then?” He quietly pondered to himself as he further analyzed Silversword.

After a few seconds of staring, he stood back up and glanced at his wares and then back at Silversword. She had mentioned the ponies she knew liked tea, so perhaps now was a perfect time to throw in a little business with the formalities.

“So M’Lady Destrier…” He flew back towards his cart as he talked to her. “As a good salespony, I should be able to read my customers as to better be able sell to them. I’m afraid I have not been keeping up with that image have I? You will have to forgive me for my lack of sale pitches but I personally like to throw in a little bit of a social element into my conversations with customers. Makes things a little bit more entertaining if you ask me. Plus, you never know where you will make some friends…”

With a smile and one quick flap of his wings, Clay began to hover over his cart as to better get a view at its contents from a different perspective. He spotted what he was looking for and landed on one of the rims of the cart before beginning to move pots around.

“Ah HA, I believe I have found what I was looking for.” With that, he hoped into the cart, his head and unfurled wings being the only things now visible as he continued to move more stuff around.

“Tell me, M’Lady Destrier. You mentioned that you wanted something for your, hmm… par... par... parrot? No, entertaining idea but unlikely. Hmm… par… partner?” He stuck his head out from his cart and gave her an appraising look. “Hmm, yes, very likely. A beautiful Pegasus such as yourself probably has colts and stallions showering your path with flowers and gifts. Yes, very likely but still…”

He paused for a long while as he picked up a hefty looking wooden box by its handle on top and, carefully lifting it with his muzzle, he flew out of the cart. Clay’s wing motions were careful and very gentle, and at no point did the box sway or rattle. He landed next to his ware and placed the box next to his hooves and quickly looked up at Silversword and gave her one of his goofy grins.

“That would be a shame though, having such fierce competition, haha…” He laughed a bit and turned to look at his wares. “No, I believe I may be right in saying that you are looking for a gift for your parents. Yes, far more likely than for a parrot.”

This time, he sat down on his haunches and placed a hoof over the wooden.

“I believe I may have something already in mind that I’d like to suggest, but please, M’Lady Destrier, select the pieces you like for them and I’ll be glad to tell you a little bit about them and provide you with some prices.”

Admittedly the first day of business for the Jingling Satchel Repair Shop could have gone better. Klondike had made the mistake of not checking the work of the pony that set up his furnace and a slight fire broke out. Aside from a few synched hairs, nothing was damaged and Klondike had to unfortunately request that his customers leave their items in need of repairs and return at their later convenience the following day.

Klondike had woken up early this time around and already had coffee and cookies set out on his counter for any customer that came in and wanted some. He was currently outside working on remaking the felloe to replace the broken one on one of the wheels of Zacora’s cart. The second wheel he had removed from the cart already had a brand new metal band around it and was propped up against the cart which was up on two blocks of wood. He was wearing a smile on his muzzle as he worked diligently on the piece of wood before him. He had the piece of wood clamped down against his worktable as he repeatedly ran a hoof over it with an odd contraption. Attached to his hoof, more exactly to his horseshoe, was a block plane, which resembled a sort of metallic cheese grater. With each pass, small pieces of shaved wood fell to the ground.

Off to his side, across the workshop, stood the furnace that had given him troubles the previous day. It insides were glowing a very faded orange, not yet hot enough for what he needed to do with it. Next to it on a table were a telescope and a tuba.

Taking a minute to stop and look away from his work and over towards the items on the table, he couldn’t help but let out a shallow sigh.

*sigh* “Well, could have been a better day yesterday, but at least I don’t have to worry about that happening again…” He raised his free hoof towards his right ear and gave it a little rub. It was wrapped in a bandage and had been twitching for a while towards the inside of the shop.

As it continued to twitch, he took a mental note of the things he had to work on for the day. So far he had a telescope, a tuba, a cart, and a broken tureen that was no longer broken. In fact, because the tureen had been allowed to set over night, the glue had bonded marvelously and the tureen looked as good as new. He had it sitting next to the counter with the receipt ready to be picked up.

Glancing at it through the open door into the shop, he spotted something that made him roll his eyes and begin trotting back into the shop. He had forgotten to put out the open sign.

“Wow, I woke up early and forgot to put out the sign… Hmm, does that mean I still technically opened lated?” He pondered to himself as he picked up the sign in his muzzle and walked across the foyer of the shop towards the door. It was still locked.

“Well, at least I was about half way open on time. Guess tomorrow I’ll just forget to put out the sign or something like that. Slowly work my way up to being a decent shop owner, hehe.”

Klondike couldn’t help but smile and chuckle at himself as he opened the door and the now five bells that hung above his door jingled furiously and he placed the OPEN sign outside. He took one glance at it to make sure it was standing properly and then walked back into his shop.

Since he would be working outside on the cart, he would have to try and make a mental note to listen for the bells.

We all want to work at Gamestop or something, in reality....I mean hello, paid to play games? Too bad they want gaming experience for FPS which I don't play at all.

Nope, we don't play games while at work. Heck, if I did that I'd be fired

Nonono, we get paid to talk to customers about games and give them suggestions on what games would be right for them and such depending on what they want out of a game. For example, a customer comes in and says, "Hi, I'm looking for a FPS game..." okay, that's pretty broad. You would try to find out more info about his preferences in FPS such as team based, ultra realistic, what I personally call "rambo" style, or maybe he wants something with a bit of an RPG element like Fallout and Deus Ex. If he asks about my personal experience with any of the games I suggest, if I have it, I give it. If not, there's always your co-workers who may or may not have played it. If that isn't available either, you fallback on reviews you've read or such.

Point is, as long as you have some fundamental knowledge about gaming, the rest you learn through practice. I mean, sure, you do get paid to play games, but you play games while you're at home or such. You are technically getting paid to share the knowledge and experiences you gather from playing the games with your customers.

Heck, before I started working there, I only knew about Mario games, Legend of Zelda games, a few PS2 games like Xenosaga and Final Fantasy (which I really don't like), and what little knowledge I had about PC games like Portal, TF2, and WoW.

If you are interested in working at a Gamestop, I'd highly suggest you put in an application ASAP because most stores, especially mall stores like the one I work at, will be hiring for seasonal help. Go in "professionally" dressed with your resume and ask to talk to a manager. Introduce yourself, get some face time. Hopefully they'll hire you and if they decided you're an asset to the team, maybe they'll keep you on board after the season. That's pretty much how it went for me.

So, basically what I'm getting at is that working at a Gamestop is pretty much this...

Well, no, its not about playing games on the job... in fact i doubt they EVER get to actually PLAY games on the clock... but its more about it being something i'm knowledgeable about, and something i'm interested in talking about... Chicken is delicious, but you can't make a conversation piece out of it, and theres not really much discussion about which chicken would be best to get...

but at Gamestop or something, i know about games, i can talk about games, i can help people find games, etc... it's something i know and enjoy, and just talking about and being able to be around what i enjoy that would be fun... playing games all day would be fun for a while, but thats not really what i want.

Now, be warned though. You will have access to a lot of tools to help you learn about games. Mainly your paycheck. If you work at a Gamestop, and you enjoy video games. Your paycheck will return to the store one way or another. As an example, Batman Arkham City(which I bought and I'm loving it) just came out and in November you Halo Combat Evolved, MW3, Skyrim ( ), Lego Harry Potter, Assassin's Creed Revelations ( ), and a bunch of other titles.

I will be broke by the end of the month

Still, good luck if you decide to try it.

“See? I told you that more of them would come... They’re trying to take our home!”

“But he seems harmless… Maybe we should just say hi to him. He might be really nice!”

The voices from the two dark figures in the attic echoed eerily throughout the Crimson Rose. A chilling breeze seemed to follow in its wake as it flowed down into the rest of the house from the attic. However, as a small break in the overcast sky let sunlight shine into the attic, no pony was visible and the only thing noticeable about the decrepit attic was a slight frost that had formed on the window panes.

“Nice!?” A loud rugged voice echoed loudly across the attic, causing dust to fall from the ceiling. “Those other ponies that came to drop off all that stuff in the backyard just kept saying how they should tear down our home! He’s obviously the one that sent them!”

“Oh, you don’t know that…” A feminine and gentle voice replied, not even loud enough to stir any of the dust motes floating in the air. “I mean, look at him. He tripped on a rock and fell rather, hehe, comically. How harmful can he be?”

“Ugh, all this time and you still don’t want to listen to your older brother, I’m telling you that he’s bad news!“

"And as your little sister I’m telling you we should be friendly and at least see what he does first. Plus, it would be really fun to have somepony new to talk to!”

A creaking noise from down stairs suddenly resonated throughout the house, immediately followed by hoofsteps and a metallic jingling sound. At that point, the voices fell silent and the break in the overcast was concealed once more, throwing the attic into darkness again. Two earth ponies standing near the window suddenly materialize out of the darkness.

They were staring blankly at each other as they took turns glancing back and forth from the window to the door that lead to the second floor of the Crimson Rose. Even though both of them had a blurry haze to their appearance, they’re features were clearly visible.

The stallion, through the blurry haze, appeared to have a maroon colored coat and his mane and tail were a bright crimson color with a silver streak running through them. His cutie mark was a crimson rose losing three of its petals. The mare on the other hoof, had an almost light coffee and cream colored coat, and her mane and tail were a silvery color with a maroon streak running through her tail but not her mane. Her cutie mark was of a simple wind chime.

They both stood silently for a few seconds, the stallion staring at the door while the mare stared at him.

“Come on Crimson, please Crimmy?”

“Ugh, you know I don’t like it when you call me that Wind-Chime. Especially when you’re trying to twist my hoof…”

Wind-Chime simply pouted her lips and looked at him with a downcast expression.

“Oh no, don’t, you know that ain’t fair…”

She let out a little sniffle and the entire attic seemed to grow colder.

*sigh* “Fine… But if he’s trouble you are going to help me scare him out of here. Understood?”

“Oh Crimson, you know I’m no good at that.”

Crimson just rolled his eyes as he and his sister turned see-through and vanished into the floor.

“You know he can’t hear you right? You’d just be talking to yourself… Plus, what’s wrong with talking to me?”

----------------------------------------------------------

Klondike stood in the foyer of the farm house. His ear had gone limp and laid flat against his head as he looked at everything around him with narrowed eyes and knitted eyebrows. His expression was a mixture of doubt, concern, and oddly enough, a sharp and critical focus. He began to walk further into the building, looking at the walls, floors and ceilings as if searching for something. He could not shake off the sensation that somepony else was in the building, which was strange seeing as he recalled his employers saying that he would be doing the job alone and that nopony had really set hoof into the Crimson rose for many decades.

At one point, the inside of the Crimson Rose was beautiful beyond belief. For having been a farm house, the owners had done everything in their power to keep it beautiful and well kept. Time though, had disregarded the previous owner’s efforts and had degraded the place to mirror its outside. Windows stood caked with dust and grim while their once beautiful crimson curtains, or at least what the moths had not eaten, now barely hung from their hinges, faded from years of disuse.

In every room, the floors lay barren, creaking, and discolored. They were mahogany, but now, indistinguishable from any other wood. Whatever polish or carpet once adorned them had long since rotted away many years ago thanks to the elements, and left behind dark stains and piles of dirt and dust where the stucco from the ceilings had cracked and fallen. The walls, like the floors, had not fared any better and lay as barren and decrepit as the rest of the house. The once sage colored wallpaper with a rose pattern was now beyond recognition in the few minuet sections of wall on which it still hung to life as the stucco that once concealed the wood cracked and fell to the floor.

What was left of the Crimson Rose was truly a pitiful sight. And, as Klondike walked through it from the foyer into the living room, back into the foyer and into the dining room, and through the dining room into the kitchen, he took in the entire state of the house with which he was tasked to repair.

“Wow, time sure took a sledge hammer to this place. Maybe I should just demolish it all and build a new house instead…”

No sooner had the words left his lips that he realized the kitchen grew colder and colder.

“Hmm…” He thought to himself as he brought up his hoof to tap his chin and then gave a shrug. “Must be a window open somewhere in here…” He quickly took a few glances around and noticed that all the windows were closed.

“Should find it and close it before I forget. But, before that, I should make sure everything I need here arrived already.”

Klondike reached towards his back with his muzzle and began to undo a few straps. Within seconds, the hiking backpack fell to the side with a loud thump and a creak from the floors, and was then joined by the satchels which he was more careful about depositing on the floor. He took one quick look around and then exited out the kitchen’s back door towards the backyard where he expected to find the materials and extra tools he would need.

As soon as the kitchen door closed behind him, the voices of the two ponies returned at a low whisper.

“See? I told you he was bad news! He did send those other ponies here and plans to demolish our home! We need to scare him away now!”

“But…”

“No buts! You agreed to help me scare him off if he was bad news and he IS bad news!”

Suddenly the two ponies floated through one of the walls that separated the dining room from the kitchen. Crimson looked furious and determined while Wind-Chime just looked downcast.

“But… why does he want to destroy our home?”

“Because he’s a bad pony, that’s why!”

Wind-Chime simply landed on the floor near Klondike’s satchels. The room began to grow colder as she just stood there looking at the bags with no particular interest in anything.

“Now, when he comes back into the kitchen, you and I will start banging the cupboards and opening and slamming the drawers in the kitchen. He’ll scream, grab his things, and run out.”

Wind-Chime simply stood and kept looking at the satchels. The kitchen had grown very cold and a slight frost was beginning to creep out from the spot where she stood.

“Wind-Chime? Come on… We can do this.”

“… *sniff* …”

Crimson just froze in place as he noticed his sister sniffling and bringing up a hoof to rub her eyes. He knew there would be no tears but it was a habit more than anything.

“Oh Wind-Chime… Please don’t…”

*sniff* “I thought I might *sniff* finally get somepony else to *sniff* talk to after so many years… But *sniff-hic* why does he have to be *hic* a bad pony and destroy our home…?”

Crimson floated towards his sister and nuzzled her mane as he began to lead her away from the satchels and towards the other end of the kitchen. The frost on the floor followed her across the floor.

“Chime… please, just… it’ll be okay…okay?” Crimson spoke in a soft tone while he mentally cursed the pony responsible.

“Listen, just… I’ll handle this, okay? You can sit here in the breakfast nook while I scare him away. I know how you love the breakfast nook and its nice bright window with the wind-chime. I’ll make sure the bad pony doesn’t take it away, okay?”

She limply sat on the floor and laid her head on the window sill, a few shallow hiccups and sniffles escaping her. He gave her another nuzzle across her mane and floated into the air while smiling at her.

“Okay?”

*sniff* “Okay…”

“Love you little sis…”

“Love you too big brother…”

At that moment, the kitchen door swung open and Klondike stepped through the doorway. He now wore a bright yellow construction hat and held a set of rolled up blueprint papers in his muzzle. He shuddered a little as he stepped into the kitchen and noticed the change in temperature.

“Wow, musf he a hew windowsh ohen…”

He walked over to his satchels and quickly laid the blueprints out on top of them and began to study them. At that instant, his right ear sprung to life and began to twitch furiously through the hole it stuck out through on his construction hat.

*sniff*

*twinkle*

Klondike pulled his gaze from the old floor plans of the Crimson Rose, as if some unknown force was pulling his whole head, and looked at the empty breakfast nook. Or at least, he had thought it was empty.

Hanging near the window, perhaps the only remotely clean window in the whole house, under where a table would have been, there was a wind-chime. The light from the window bounced off the metallic etched surface of its hanging rods and cast an array of lights across the floors and walls.

*twinkle*

*sniff*

Klondike’s ears perked up again as he kept looking at it. He cocked his head this way and that as his gaze never left the hanging wind-chime once. And then, after a few seconds, he turned around to rummage through one of his satchels and pulled out a small rolled up piece of cloth. With a determined, and somewhat annoyed, expression he then began to slowly walk over towards the breakfast nook as he held the rolled up piece of cloth in his muzzle.

No sooner had he taken his third step when suddenly, the whole kitchen fell into chaos. Cabinets, cupboards and drawers began to slam open and shut. Sending dust into the air and causing the walls to creek as the loud banging echo bounced off them. Small debris from the ceiling began to lazily fall to the floor and an eerie cackling began to pour out of nowhere.

“HAHA! RUN! RUN PUNY PONY!”

But Klondike simple kept on walking towards the breakfast nook and the hanging wind chime.

“Eh? NO OTHER WAY! OUT THE DOOR!”

Wind-chime suddenly turned around to look at the pony approaching her. Her sniffling suddenly stopped as he now stood above her, looking at her and the wind-chime that hung above. Her eyes grew wide as she stared into his.

“Hello? Scary stuff over here! Banging cabinets and drawers? Come on! This isn’t normal you know!”

Klondike laid the rolled up piece of cloth at his feet and proceeded to unroll it. Inside were a few screwdrivers and a can of oil.

Wind-Chime simply looked at the items and cloth, and then back at Klondike.

He picked up the oil can and put a few drops on the hinges of the window before setting it back down on the floor and picking up the piece of cloth it was rolled in. Carefully holding it in his muzzle, he sat on his haunches and with his forehoofs slowly and gently held the metal rods of the wind chime as he began to dust them and polish them a bit.

Wind-Chime kept looking at him, a small hint of wonder spreading across her features as she observed Klondike take meticulous care of cleaning her beloved wind chime. It was the sole reason she loved that breakfast nook. She didn’t even notice that the ruckus from banging cabinets and cupboards had stopped.

It only took him a minute or two to get the wind chime looking beautiful, and when he was done, he then proceeded to clean the windows of the breakfast nook. Once those were clean, he undid the latch and nudged the window open, allowing a gentle breeze and some partly cloudy sunlight to pour in into the breakfast nook. The whole time, Wind-Chime sat near the window sill looking at Klondike work.

*twinkle*

“Heh, your welcome beautiful… You sound better than new. Still, can’t believe anypony would just leave something like you behind.”

He gently gave the wind chime a tap with his hoof and elicited more of the crystal-like metallic sounds from it. He couldn’t help but smile warmly at it as he closed his eyes and sat down on the floor, listening to the wind do its job. It truly did sound beautiful.

*twinkle*

*sigh* “I hope I can do the same to the whole house. Make it as beautiful as it once was…”

Wind-Chime blinked at his comment and her expression of wonderment suddenly turned into full blown joy. She quickly stood up only to sit back down right in front of Klondike so close that their muzzle almost touched. At that exact moment, Crimson’s head sprang out from one of the counter tops where he had been slamming cabinets.

“What are you doing!?”

“He’s not a bad pony!”

“What!?”

“He wants to fix our house!”

“What? Why are you sitting so close to him!?”

“I want to say hello to him!”

“He can’t hear you! Plus, he might be trying to trick you!”

“What!? How if he can’t see or hear me?”

“I… but… he could… justgetawayfromhim!”

“No! I want to talk to him!”

“No! We agreed to scare him away!”

“But he’s not a bad pony!”

“We’re not discussing this right now! We need a new pl-what are you doing!?”

Wind-Chime had her head against Klondike’s as she repeatedly passed her hoofs through him in a sweeping motion.

“What? I want to give him a hug for cleaning my wind chime.”

“Stop messing around and let’s fallback to the attic!”

“I"m not messing around! I want to say thank you! You go back to the attic Crimmy!”

“Argh! CHIME!”

With that, Crimson lunged out of the counter top and tackled his sister. A full blown out tussle between the two ponies broke out as they rolled around the floor and began to float into the air. They were soon rolling across the roof as each sibling fought to get their point across.

“He’s a nice pony!”

“He’s the enemy!”

“He cleaned my wind chime!”

“You were sitting too close to him!”

“WELL, time to go check the basement and those foundations!”

“I don’t want to go to the basement!”

“I never said the basement, I said attic!”

“But you just said…”

Both ponies stopped tussling around as they looked below to realize Klondike had wandered off.

“Okay, fine, we’ll observe him closer but just observe, okay?”

“Okay.”

“And don’t stand so close to him!”

“But…”

Crimson vanished into the floor down into the basement before Wind-Chime could finish her rebuttal. She simply sighed and followed behind.

" Ah ain't beat... "

Klondike returned the giant red stallion’s gaze with his own confused, raised eyebrow stare. Immediately realizing what Big Mac was about to do, he could not help but close his eyes, wince, and turn his head off to the side as his hoofs moved up to cover his head. He was certain that this would be the last straw that would literally break the pony’s back.

“Sweet Celestia and Luna! I still have repair orders back at my shop!”

" Get...Get up, we gotta get... "

Klondike’s regretful and, what he assumed to be his final thoughts were cut short as he realized a distinct lack of a giant pony falling on him and heard Big Macintosh telling him to get up. Without missing a beat, he lowered his forelegs and opened his eyes to look at Big Mac. He didn’t look good. Not good at all. In fact, he looked to be in pain and yet…

A l'il tumble like that ain't gonna keep ol' Macintosh down! C'mon - ah do declare we gotta get outta here while the gettin's peachy!

“Look at him.” The little pony in his head told him. “He’s obviously injured and here you are scared of being squashed again and complaining about your unfinished orders? What happened? Without a second thought you dropped everything to rush out here and help, and now you’re just laying here? Sure, you’re hurt now too, even if you’re too absentminded to notice, but you fell down the side of a mountain and still managed to finish a race! Get… up! You both rushed into the barn, you both fought that fire, and you both fell with the floor! There’s still so much more to do! You telling me repair ponies leave jobs half done?!”

“Declare?” Klondike called out as his right ear came to life in a series of twitches as the commotion and voices from outside reached it. He immediately turned on his side and began to get up. Cracks and pops sounded out as his own pained body came to life again. He was going to be sore for a long time but there was still tons of work to be done.

“HA! Declare! I declare you are right Mr. Macintosh!” He practically screamed as he trotted up to Big Macintosh with a devilish grin across his muzzle. With a slight nod of his head, he motioned for the pony to go forth and positioned himself behind Big Mac just in case he slipped and slid down the slope. He figured he could catch him if that happened, or at least act as a support. Likely not, but it was the thought that counted, right?

"Macintosh! You're ok! Well, of course you're ok. I mean. You look awfully, black."

Klondike looked ahead and through the settling smoke and dust he saw the Stetson wearing pony from the race. Within seconds, a rope was thrown down and expertly lassoed around Big Mac and, with a few tugs from Applejack and Big Mac’s own will power, the giant red pony was out of the debris. Klondike though, simply laid down as he tucked his legs underneath him and let out a shallow sigh he didn’t realize he was holding in.

“Heh, with determination like that, no wonder they run such a huge farm…” He thought to himself as his right ear twitched a bit. He began to look around and spotted two of his three spent fire extinguishers. The fall had knocked them loose and the third was likely lost in the debris.

Slowly, Klondike stood back up and gathered them before re-strapping them to his back and then made his way up the slope and out of the debris.

"Ok, ya'll! Looks like we did a fancy job of puttin' out an over sized collection of a fire. And it's all thanks to your hard workin' efforts!"

No sooner had he cleared the debris than his thoughts began to wonder as he remained inside the barn and looked at what was left of it. Looking through the hole that was once the second floor of the barn, he could not help but let out a low whistle as he took in the sight.

*whistle* “Wow, this poor barn needs some major repairs and remodeling… Maybe I should offer my…“

He kept scanning the area and damage and then turned to look at the ponies gathered outside before looking at himself. Like the barn, he was synched, covered in ash, dirtied, wet, beat up and creaking a bit. Although the creaking was likely just his joints and body complaining that he didn’t stay away from the fire or stayed laying in the debris to avoid aggravating any injuries like a sane pony would after such a tumble. Obviously though, all the ponies in this town were crazy.

“Shower… I should go take a nice warm bath and then come back tomorrow. Yes. No sense offering my repair services when I look like I need repairs myself, hehe. Yes. Shower and tomorrow…”

With that thought in mind, he began to trot his way out of the barn and past the gathered ponies as his right ear twitched in the direction of the playfully cantering pony with the Stetson hat that was cantering up to him. In an odd turn of events, Klondike actually paid attention to his twitching ear and turned to see the pony approach him. Maybe it was the smoke inhalation?

"Uh, Klondike, is it?”

“Hi! Yes, that’s my shower, er, name.”

“I was wondering if you'd be able to contract for us the rebuilding of a barn. You know like, an apple barn, for an apple farm, heh, much like the one you just fell in."

Klondike looked at Applejack as she gave him a flirtatious smile and then looked past her at the barn, and then back at her again. He then kept staring at her for a second or two and then quickly trotted around her and headed back to the barn entrance. As he trotted, his expression became one of concentration and concern. His tongue even stuck out a bit as he focused on the barn.

As he got close to the barn doors, he nudged one with his head and closed it and then proceeded to do the same to the other door. He stopped right before it closed and, tongue still sticking out and the expression still firmly plastered on his face, he looked at the gathered ponies and stepped into the barn right before pulling the door close behind him.

Only a few second had passed before a series of thundering thumps and bangs could be heard coming from inside the barn. The sounds where making their way around the outer wall of the barn and resonated throughout the whole structure.

*THUMP… CRASH* “AH!”

Five seconds of silenced passed by and then the thumping resumed making its way around the structure. This went on for about five or ten minutes before quieting down.

Without warning, the barn doors flew open again and Klondike stepped out with a goofy smile on his face and trotted over to Applejack. New pieces of charcoaled debris hung on his coat and on his head.

“Good news!” He announced in a loud triumphant voice. “Since your barn didn’t fall down on me entirely…” He brushed off the debris from this mane. “I am happy to say its stable enough to wait till I can gather my tools and order materials. Just… don’t let any pony go inside till I can stabilize it a bit better.”

Klondike gave her a smile and a wink before he began to trot around her, his goofy smile not once leaving his muzzle.

“I’ll be back tomorrow to take measurements and better notes that don’t involve anypony stomping around inside the barn trying to bring it down on themselves. Should be able to start next week but I’m sorry I can’t really say how long it will take me to finish it on my own.”

He stopped trotting around Applejack and simply sat on his haunches in front of her as he tapped one of his hoofs on his muzzle.

“Hmm… I guess that still applies, yes. Definitely still applies.” Klondike spoke to nopony in particular as he continued to tap his muzzle.

“Yes, definitely… Good news Miss Applejack!” He suddenly stood and began to slowly make his way past Applejack and towards the road to Ponyville. “To rebuild this barn, it will cost you 30,000 bits. That includes the materials and the repair pony. Me.” He stopped and turned around while smiling and pointing a hoof at himself. “However, I’m a pony of my word and the offer I made for any pony that crossed the finish line still stands. SO… you get a 75% discount plus a 5% discount because I like your hat and you have a very pretty smile. So, that will only be 6,000 bits.”

He looked at the gathered ponies and took a second to smile at each one individually before turning around and heading out of Sweet Apple Acres once more, calling out in as loud a voice as possible.

“Plus, for any able pony you can get to help, I’ll knock off 1,000 bits off the price and oh sweet Celestia and Luna do I need a nice warm bath…”

And with that, Klondike made his way further down the road back to Ponyville.

Homes, houses, cottages… Equestria is filled with them, its landscape dotted by the huddled masses of the different varieties of pony homes. How one defines a home is entirely up to the individual themselves. A home can be defined as a building, a structure where one resides in with no particular focus on the ponies who live in it. This is the most basic definition of a home found in a dictionary. A structure subjected to the ravishes of time and care of, or lack of care, by its tenants. It is just that, a structure, and nothing more.

On the opposite end of the dictionary however, well, technically most likely underneath the previous definition of a home (but who keeps track of that honestly?), you have the definition of a home as being a spiritual or emotional state. Home is where the heart is. Or so it is said. It is not so much what building you live in, but the ponies with whom you share your daily life with. A home can be as massive as a town, where the merchants and neighbors greet you by name, to as insignificant as the park bench where you sit with your friends to relax and bask in the radiant warm glow from Celestia’s sun.

In some cases, it doesn’t even have to be a structure of any sorts, but a pony with whom you share your love and quiet moments together. In such cases, just being with such a pony is all you ever need in the whole of Equestria to be happy.

For a certain repair pony however, with his dark blue coat and icy blue mane, the latter had never really been the case when it came to defining a home.

Klondike, having long since grown warm to the idea of calling Ponyville his home, always used the first two definitions for what a home was. In a certain way though, being a repair pony and all, the first definition was honestly the most crucial to him. It made it easier for him to work with. If it was a structure or item, then he could undoubtedly fix it and perform any repair required. And, if it held some great sentimental value to somepony, then he would do all he could to fix it and hardly ever charged anything remotely close to what would be considered exuberant. Some ponies would even say that he went out of his way to get the job done.

And, as he made his way out of Ponyville, his loaded satchels and hiking backpack combo jingling with every step he took, it was exactly what he was doing. He was embarking on a journey to help some ponies out… Although admittedly, to anypony walking by, he just looked like he was playing a game.

--------------------------------------------------------

*TWANG* Came the crystalline metallic sound from his satchel as he continued to walk down the dirt road, his right ear twitching as the sound reached it.

“Hmm, hammer hitting clamp…”

Klondike was playing the same game he always played when out and about with his satchel filled with his beloved tools. There was a reason his repair shop was called “The Jingling Satchel Repair Shop.”

*PING-JINGLE* “Oh, hmm, boxes of nails rattling…” He stopped for a second as he glanced back at the town he was leaving behind. He had done his best to attend every celebration in Ponyville, but now…

*sigh* “I was really looking forward to the Harvest Festival in Ponyville. Heard it can be a ton of fun especially if Pinkie Pie is involved… Not sure who that is though, but with a name like Pie, she MUST make awesome pumpkin pies!”

He gave one last longing look at Ponyville and let out another shallow sigh as he turned and began once more down the road.

“Shame this job will have me out of town for the entire month… Maybe if I’m lucky, I can make it back in time for the festival and - *CLANK* Oh! That would be the wrench…”

With every metallic jingle that escaped his satchel, Klondike’s right ear would twitch as he called out the tools responsible for the noise. And, with every guess he took, his gaze became more and more glazed over as his thoughts drifted to the events that led him on this journey as he curiously still guessed correctly what tools made what sounds.

*TWANG-ANG-ANG-ANg-Ang-ang* “Easy, it’s the saw…”

“Nice couple those two. I hope everything works out for them.”

*TING-PING* “Hmm, L-Keys hitting against each other…”

“Of course it will! I’ll fix up their new home and they’ll put the effort into making it great.”

As he continued walking and talking while thinking to himself, a skill that would otherwise be real handy if it didn’t mean he was annoyingly absentminded, he continuously went over the last month’s events in his head.

His current job was the result of him recently being hired by a young married couple to do repairs on a home over on the other side of the Whitetail Woods between Canterlot and Ponyville. The young couple, two earth ponies, ran a rather small flower shop of their own. They lived in Canterlot and, having heard about him and his business through a pony named Grapevine, had requested he come meet them in the city so that they could discuss the affair. The young couple, not being able to afford anything but a single bedroom apartment, had miraculously won a contest that neither of them remembered entering and had finally been able to barely afford buying a home. Being earth ponies however, they wanted to do it right and wished to start a new life outside of the big city.

That was how they came into possession of the most dilapidated farm house that any pony had ever seen.

The farmland around it had been barren for many decades. The house itself though, which sat on top of a small hill in the middle of the farmland, had at one point been a thing of rustic beauty. A testament to the simplicity and functionality that once existed in a time long forgotten. Time though, had not been kind to the building and although the structure was sound, it was in dire need of repairs.

So much so that when Klondike was shown the pictures, he bluntly suggested a bit of lamp oil and a matchbook, offering to build a new one where the old one stood for only a few bits more than what was currently being discussed. They thought he was joking…

Still, a job was a job and what they wanted was simple enough. They had already made arrangements to move in by the end of the Harvest Festival month, which meant that Klondike would have to live on site in order to save time on travel, reduce expenses, and finish on time.

It kind of helped to alleviate the sadness he felt for missing Ponyville’s Harvest Festival if he thought about the job as a sort of vacation. He hadn’t had one of those in a while and it put a simple gentle smile on his face thinking about it like that.

*JINGLE* “Umm, Oh, right, extra bits in case I get hungry on the road, hehe…” Klondike shook his head a bit in relieved laughter and continued down the road.

“I wonder if pumpkin pie can be made from anything else besides pump- *CRACK-AH-CRASH-THUD-PING-TWING-JINGLE-CLANK*… OHooh… ow… That was me stepping on a rock, falling, and having my satchels crash down on me… Oh Sweet Celestia, that smarts.”

As he laid in a tangled mess of hoofs and satchel, his eyes widened and his eyebrows arched as something that occurred after he accepted the job and was leaving Canterlot fought to reach the surface of his memories.

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Klondike had just accepted the job from the young couple and was leaving their home as his thoughts wondered back and forth, trying to draw a plan on how to approach the repairs the house would need. He was unaware of the cloaked pony leaving a nearby alleyway and walking up to him as he continued down the street to make his way out of Canterlot and back to Ponyville.

“Okay, first I should gather the materials and have them sent ahead so that I can get started as soon as I get there…”

“Hey you… pssst” The cloaked pony walked up to him and tried to catch his attention.

“When I get there I should check the supports and see which ones need to be replaced or reinforced…”

It obviously wasn’t working as the cloaked pony began to trot next to him.

“Hey!... PSSSSST!”

“Bring down some walls…”

“PSSSSST! HEY!”

“Really open up the place so they can have many foals running around…”

“PSSSST!”

“Remove old wall panels and replace them. Same for ceilings and floors…”

“PSSST! HEY YOU! WITH THE BLUE MANE! I’M TALKING TO Y-”

“Actually, before any of that I should really check the foundations. Going to have to go down into the basement and-"

“OH FOR CELESTIA’S SAKE!!!”

Klondike suddenly found his face in the hoofs of a cloaked pony, staring into the darken hood, unable to see the pony inside except for the bright yellow eyes that stared right back at him.

“YOU SHOULD LISTEN WHEN SOMEPONY IS TRYING TO SAVE YOUR LIFE!!”

“I’m sorry, you seem to have my face in your hoofs. Where you talking to me?”

“YES YOU- argh… Listen, that house is cursed! It’s evil!”

“What? No, I’m pretty sure that young couple was really nice. Far from being bad pon-“

“NO YOU FOAL! The one you’re going to!!”

“No need to be rude. And my house is not cursed. It’s a repair shop and a little messy, sure, but I wouldn’t call it curs-“

“ARGH! NO! THE HOUSE YOU’RE GOING TO GO FIX! IT’S CALLED THE CRIMSON ROSE! CRIMSON! IT’S HAUNTED YOU FOAL! CURSED! EVIL! BAD THINGS HAPPEN IN THERE!”

“Why would they call it the Crimson Rose? From the pictures it looked more like a faded maroon col-“

“SWEET CELESTIA! SERIOUSLY!? ARGH! YOU KNOW WHAT? WHY DO I EVEN BOTHER!?... You’re on your own Blue One! Luna watch over you…”

And with that, the cloaked pony let go of Klondike’s face, dropping him to the floor, and vanished into an alleyway before Klondike could get back up on his hoofs.

-------------------------------------------------------

Klondike was still laying on the ground as the memories of that event fought for purchase on the slippery slope that was his mind. His eyes were wide as he stared at nothing in particular, his eyebrows slightly rising while his right ear twitched furiously for him to pay attention.

“…CURSED! EVIL! BAD THINGS HAPPEN IN THERE!”

Klondike’s gaze grew wider and wider as he continued to stare down the road. In front of him stood the thing his right ear was trying to get him to notice. Time surely flew by fast when one was occupied inside their own head. He had been walking for two hours before stumbling and falling.

And now, only a few yards in front of him stood the Crimson Rose. The two story building, with its attic and porch out front, stood decrepit, beaten, and threatening atop its hill. It’s windows obscured by years of dust, appeared as dark and vacant as the eyes of a malevolent beast as the window shutters, hanging precariously on rusted hinges, creaked and groan in the slightest breeze. Whatever color once adorned its exterior had long since been washed away by time and the elements. Roof shingles and siding hung precariously all around it, making the old farm house appear to be slowly melting into a dark pit-less void. It almost seemed to groan threateningly at whoever laid their eyes upon it.

For all intended purposes, the Crimson Rose looked ripe for a haunting. The overcast above it didn’t help its case either.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this…” Klondike slowly stood back up and started at the structure.

*BUUURRRPP*

“OH! Excuse me… Scratch that.” He said as he sat on his haunches and rubbed his tummy a bit, trying to reduce the blush across his muzzle. “Must have been the hay fries I had for breakfast.”

His mind was indeed a very, very slippery slope. That memory about the warning never saw the light of day...

Dusting himself off a bit, Klondike stood back up and began to trot towards the porch of the Crimson Rose, his satchel giving off its chorus of metallic jingles as he got closer to the dilapidated home.

Poor Klondike, if only he wasn't so absentminded he would have noticed the two dark figures staring out at him from the attic window.

Hugs? I was certain I had more "Hug" pics on my computer. Hmm...

Oh oh! I have a question! *raises hoof*

Do we just write out the whole thing and then post it? Or can we write little by little and just post what we keep adding? I ask mainly because I've been running my idea through my head over and over again and I fear I'm going to be getting close to moon banishment. However, If I can split it up little by little, kind of like chapters, and update as I go. I may be able to alleviate the stress of it (and my banishment). Or at least I would hope so.

Edit - I may have missed it, but when is the deadline to submit our entries?

Well, I learned something today.

Apparently, 4 hours of sleep combined with a low quality video on fullscreen can really hamper my judgment. Watched it a second time after washing out my face to wake up and found a better quality video (the one here, duh) and watched it without it being of fullscreen...

OMG IT WAS EPIC!

I think my favorite part aside from the Rainbow Nuclear explosion had to be the pony dog-pile on Big Mac suddenly exploding sending ponies everywhere while he chased after Mayor Mare...

I laughed so hard my sides hurt.