Chapter 4.

Berry wakes you gently in the morning, running a hoof down your face, brushing your features with the tip. You smile, staring into her eyes, and she lowers her mouth to yours once again. You sigh into the kiss, contented,

“I should tell you, I’ve been interested in your for a while, Paddock. I hope you don’t think I’m coming on too strongly?”

“I... I had wondered about you, you’re lovely, everything I look for in a mare.” you respond, looking into her eyes still. She grins, and kisses you again,

“Well, if you and Ruby get on well, I would love to have a proper relationship with you?”

You smile back at her,

“I can’t wait to meet her.”

Berry pecks your lips, before shifting to let you up from the sofa, one hoof propping her up, gravity making her mane fall nicely over her shoulder, she motions to the clock on the mantle, showing the time as just after mid-day.

“Aren’t you opening up today?”

You nod, rising from next to her, levitating your cap back to it’s home atop your head,

“Will you be in this evening?”

“Well, I’ve not got Ruby for a little while, so sure. I wouldn’t mind helping out behind the bar if you still want me? I couldn’t take money from you though,”

You smile again, gazing at her enough to make her blush,

“The company would be all the payment I’d need. When would you want to introduce me to your little one?”

“Ditzy said she’d look after her until next weekend, but said I’m welcome to pick her up any time... would Wednesday be alright for you?”

“Wednesday would be fine - I can have an evening off for once. Would you be alright with me cooking for you both?”

Berry smiles and kisses you once more, bringing her hoof up behind your head to pull you down to her level and then walks you to the door, letting you out with another small kiss, waving as you head back home. Arriving back at the pub, you find that the thatch has indeed been successfully repaired, your room being bone dry, and you move your boxes from the cellar before flopping down on the bed and sleeping for a few more hours.

That night, the pub is busier than ever, easily reaching the recommended maximum occupancy. You weren’t sure why until you had chatted to a younger looking punter at the bar. Having checked his ID, he requested a glass of red wine, before commenting over his thick framed plastic glasses (which you couldn’t help but notice were only frames - the glass itself had been removed) that he wasn’t surprised you’d never heard of the band. The colt made a comment about “manestream” being “uncool”, before trotting back through the crowd of similarly dressed ponies shuffling themselves between their hooves rather than dancing.

“Bloody hipsters, eh?” a voice said, belonging to a white unicorn leaning on the bar. Her scarlet eyes scanned the bar as she adjusted a poorly fitting wig with one of her hooves, trying to hide a tuft of two-toned blue hair, a light brown colt next to her frantically taking notes using a pencil held between his teeth.

“Is that what they’re called? It doesn’t feel right being the oldest pony in the room at all.”

She laughed, “Two pints of Deuchars, thanks. Not seen that around these parts in a long while.”

“Aye, I get it delivered from the brewers in Shetland, they’re family friends.” you respond, pulling the drinks and sliding them over to the mare. She levitates her payment along with a tip over to the jar, kept behind the bar tonight, and drops them inside. As she leaves, you feel Berry Punch put her hoof to your shoulder, having arrived a few seconds earlier, embracing you for a moment or two.

“You know who that was, right?” she whispers into your ear,

“Nope. Her fella looked like a journalist though?”

Berry laughs at your cluelessness and presses her lips to your cheek for a moment, before trotting off to serve a customer who had been rudely tapping his money on the bar-top. The two of you spend the rest of the evening both rushing between customers, incredibly busy until an hour or so after the band had finally finished their set and left.

Alone once again, you and Berry continue chatting to each other as you finish the cleaning for the night, taking half the usual time. You offer to walk her home again, and the two of you once more kiss outside her doorway before she trots inside, blushing and slightly out of breath. This cycle repeats itself for the next few days, until you suddenly realise all too soon that it has finally reached Wednesday and the make or break moment in which you are due to meet Berry's daughter for the first time.

Determined to cook something delicious yet healthy for your potential new friend, you stop by several market stalls in the town, picking up various vegetables in order to make your mother's famous stew - several large potatoes, mushrooms and carrots in a deep and rich vegetable broth with the tiniest hint of beer to add to the flavour. Your mother had always made sure to explain to you that cooking with alcohol was always fine regardless of who you were cooking for, as the alcohol in the beverage itself often boiled off way, way before the meal was ready to serve.

You decide to find something fancy for dessert and choose to stop by the bakery at Sugar Cube Corner, your eyes dancing over the selection of beautifully hoof-crafted confection within. Looking through the windows, you notice a batch of cupcakes holding all the colours of the rainbow,

"I helped make those, you should totally try one! They're SO AWESOME" comes a comment from your left. You turn your head to see Rainbow Dash, one of the local weather ponies, pointing at the cakes you had been admiring.

"Ah, hello Rainbow, how've you been?" you ask her, "I'm looking for something special, I'm... auditioning for a mare."

"Oh boy, yeah, if you're looking to impress, I'd definitely go talk to Pinkie Pie - she'd totally know how to help you out with that!" Dash responds, practically pushing you into the store. The bell above the door rings and goes silent. You glance around for a moment, before turning back to see the manic grin of Ponyville's pink premier party pony staring back at you.

"Hi!" she exclaims, practically bounding around the room, "You're mister Paddock, right? huh, huh?"

"Y... yes." you respond, feeling a little light headed. Dash grabs Pinkie by the tail to hold her still, before pulling her nose to Pinkie's ear and whispering. Pinkie's eyes go wide, and she stares at you before nodding furiously and disappearing into the rear of the store.

She comes back with a pair of books balanced on her back, one entitled "The Candy Sutra", the other with "The Joye of Snackes" in curly writing. You think about the titles for a moment before shuddering.

"Whoa, whoa, fillies, I didn't mean that kind of stuff!"

Pinkie stops, looking visibly dismayed, "Aww, Gytha will be so upset, I'm trying to sell our books together!"

"Maybe one day I'll have a copy, but not today. I'm meant to be doing something nice for a mare and her youngster. I just want a nice dessert that'd work with a decent vegetable stew."

"Oooh! Alrightie! You can never go wrong with a toffee-cream-puff, they're super delish!"

"That'd be lovely m'dear, I'll take three. Could you wrap them up for me? Oh, and I'll have three of those Rainbow cupcakes from the window as well."

"Okie dokie," Pinkie responds, still her jolly buoyant self and you see Dash beaming with pride that someone has actually bought something she had made. She bids farewell to you and Pinkie, before leaving the bakery, presumably off to find somewhere to sleep between her shifts.

You wait for Pinkie to finish wrapping the cakes, and then drop a few heavy golden bits on the worktop. She waves goodbye as you leave before going into the back of the store. Checking you'd got everything, you then start to walk towards Berry's house, a small knot of worry forming in your stomach as you think about the meal you're about to cook. You knew that children could be fussy when it came to food, and hoped that Ruby would still like you even if she wasn't fond of the stew.

You knock on the door, which is answered by Berry. She lets you inside after greeting you with a kiss and you wander into the front room to see her child sat on the floor playing with a trio of dolls.

"Maxie, we've got to get to the bottom of this mystery and I need your help!" she says, moving a figurine of a yellow coloured colt in a fedora, changing her voice to make it sound masculine. Picking up another, a cream filly with her mane in pigtails, a green choker around her neck, Ruby continues, "But Squeak, we’ve got no idea where the writers are going!?"

You sit down next to her, hoping to introduce yourself, and Ruby drops the dolls, darting to the safety of between her mothers' hooves. Berry laughs gently, stroking Ruby and giving you a caring glance.

"It's alright, sweetie, this is my friend Paddock, he's been hoping to meet you."

Ruby stays silent, shyly eyeing you from behind her mother's foreleg. You lower yourself to Ruby's level and speak gently,

"Hello, your mum has told me a lot about you, she's very special to me and I'd love it if we could be friends?"

The little filly approaches you, one step at a time,

"Your voice is funny." she says, still appearing cautious and shy. You smile, stifling a laugh, "Can I wear your hat?" she asks, becoming a little bolder upon seeing your positive reaction. You smile, and levitate it over, placing the flat cap backwards on Ruby's head.

"Paddock is going to make us some dinner, do you think you would like that?" Berry asks, to which Ruby nods enthusiastically, your hat sliding forwards and back on her little head.

"I've even brought some very special treats for if you eat it all up, like a good girl." you add, receiving an approving look from Berry coupled with curiosity of what exactly you had planned, "You two play together a bit, and I'll get dinner on the go."

You slip out of the room into Berry's kitchen, listening to her join in with her daughter's playtime, her dedication warming your heart. Cutting the vegetables into relatively small chunks and tossing them into the pan, you overhear the two fillies talking to each other.

"I like him, mom. He's nice."

"I'm glad to hear that sweetie, I really like him too."

A tear forms in the corner of your eye as you add a splash of ale to the broth bubbling away on the hob. You put the cakes, still in their delicately tied box, in the fridge to keep the cream from spoiling and find three bowls from one of berry's cupboards. Having a taste and deciding that the meal was ready, you ladle it into the bowls and place them on the wooden table, before calling the girls in to eat.

The food goes down incredibly well with both mother and daughter, and you unveil the toffee cream puffs with a slight flare that you imagine would do Pinkie proud. They both gasp, and Ruby immediately wolfs hers down, cream going everywhere, spread like the joy all over her face. You can't help but smile, seeing them happy, watching and laughing along with Berry as Ruby attempts to lick a blob of cream from her nose. The clock in the living room chimes, signalling that the time is nine o'clock, to which Berry asks her daughter to go and get ready for bed, having been awake longer than usual already. She trots off upstairs, a tiny yawn accenting her tiredness. A few moments later, she appears again,

"Mom, I can't sleep, can you read me a story?"

"How about if I sing for you, Ruby? Would you like a lullaby?" you ask, memories of times with your own parents flowing back, bringing emotions long forgotten into the foreground.

Her eyes light up and she nods enthusiastically, before dashing back upstairs to brush her teeth. Berry walks up and nuzzles you,

"She hasn't been sung to in a very long time, I'm not that good."

"My own mother used to sing to me, she taught me a little song that I still know the words to."

Berry smiles, and you both walk upstairs to Ruby's room. You're surprised at how tidy the child keeps her things, no toys on the floor, or homework strewn across her tiny desk. Berry perches herself on the edge of Ruby’s bed, and runs a hoof through her mane gently. Mother and daughter look to you expectantly, before you remember yourself and sit next to Berry, taking a deep breath,

"Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, hush now, don't you cry!
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, that's a Cloplin lullaby."

Oft in dreams I wander
To that cot again,
I feel her hooves a-huggin' me
As when she held me then.
And I hear her voice a -hummin'
To me as in days of yore,
When she used to rock me fast asleep
Outside the cabin door.

Opening your eyes as you finish, the first thing you notice is the light gentle breathing of the dozing Ruby still being stroked by her mother. Carefully, you and Berry slide off of the bed, making sure not to wake her infant, and make your way downstairs

“We’ll have to be quiet, I don’t want to wake her up...” Berry says, running a hoof through your mane, caressing you. You respond by doing the same to her, her dark pink hair soft to the touch. She exhales deeply as you run your hoof through, a contented sigh as she leads you over to the sofa once more...

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