“Good afternoon, Radiant!”

“Good afternoon, Dapples!” The cream-colored pegasus gave the unicorn a nod as she closed the door behind her. “How long have you been awake?”

The unicorn scoffed. “Not that long. The bed felt really nice this morning. Are you done for the day?”

Radiant Hearth nodded. “Not much mail in the middle of the week. A handful of bills, a couple of personal letters, and some fliers some pony gave me to pass around.”

“Fliers?”

“Yeah,” she said, dipping a hoof into her mailbag and grabbing a blue sheet of paper. “I’m afraid this is all you get today.”

“Figures. I never get anything good.” Dapples grabbed the flier and read.

Need a couch moved?

Floor swept?

Windows cleaned?

I’M YOUR STALLION!

A day’s work for fair wages

See Arthur Penn

79 Saddlestone Heights

“Saddlestone Heights? Isn’t that the new complex near the hospital?”

Radiant glanced at her own copy of the paper. “Yeah. I was under the impression that place was pretty expensive. If he’s able to afford that place, why does he need to wash my windows?”

“Your windows are pretty filthy.”

“Hush, you!” said Radiant, before tossing her balled up flier at Dapples’ head. He jerked his head to the side, but it still bounced off the pony’s speckled back. She smiled as she slipped into her apartment, directly across from his. “Talk to you later!”

“Will do,” said Dapples, lost in thought. He glanced into his own apartment. “I guess its not too long a walk to Saddlestone Heights...”

Though the walk was a bit of a trek, Dapples found the walk rather refreshing. The air was cool, but the sun was shining, and there was just enough of a breeze to keep him from getting too warm beneath his shaggy mane. “Maybe I should ask this guy to give me a manecut,” he said with a chuckle.

Finding the apartment complex was no difficult task. The presence of noisy construction equipment was hard to miss in a smaller town, and Dapples had seen more stallions in hard hats coming into the library to look at magazines and make passes at Twilight. Yet he was still surprised by how many apartments there were. Dapples’ place was rather small, a duplex that he shared with Radiant Hearth. He wondered how Radiant would feel about delivering mail to a wall with this many mailboxes.

He walked up to the second floor, and passed doors until he found number 79. His first knock wasn’t immediately answered, but his second brought out a muffled “Hold on a second!” from inside. Within moments, the door opened, and Dapples came face to face with Arthur Penn.

Arthur was another unicorn, but younger, closer to Twilight’s age. His coat was dark blue, and his mane was a few shades lighter. He looked Dapples up and down and adjusted his large red spectacles. “Well, that was fast.”

“Are you Arthur?”

“Yes, sir! Arthur Penn is my name! Handypony, jack of all trades! I’m new in town and eager to put myself to work!”

“New in town?” Dapples found himself a little unnerved by this pony’s enthusiasm for work, something he never could understand himself.

“Yes, sir! Still living out of boxes, actually! Adrift in the sea of reality that is Equestria!”

Again, the grey unicorn was confused, but he brushed it off with a shake of his head. “So you’re available to work?”

“If the bits are right, I’ll do pretty much anything, anytime.”

“Are you available right now?”

Given a couple of moments to make sure his apartment was okay to leave for the day, Arthur was out the door and walking across the town square with Dapples within a few minutes. As it turns out, Arthur came from new money in Manehattan. He had done well in his classes, and was eager to make it on his own in a new town. His parents had graciously agreed to cover his rent at the Saddlestone Heights, as it was quite opulent by Ponyville standards.

However, he was on his own for spending money, and when the tutors left he made a startling discovery. He had no real skills. He had gained an extensive basic knowledge of biology, geography, history, and mathematics, but he had never worked a day in his life. So he turned to the only real work that he did know: chores around the house. Arthur was determined to make it on his own without having to run to his parents for money, and if that meant doing odd jobs for strangers, then by Celestia, that was how he was going to do it.

All of this Dapples found out on the walk back. Arthur was an open book, whether you wanted him open or not. By the time they made it back to Dapples’ apartment, the grey unicorn had the handypony’s entire backstory. The only topic that Arthur danced around was what he planned to use the money for, an answer he repeatedly came close to providing before stumbling over his words and taking the monologue in a different direction.

“So what do you need my help with?”

Dapples opened the door to his apartment. In the middle of the floor was a large pile of empty cardboard boxes. “I need your help packing my things.”

“You’re moving?”

“Gradually,” Dapples said, as he levitated a box from the pile and took it into the kitchen. “It’s a work in progress, really. I’m packing everything up now, while I finalize my plans.”

“Where to?” asked Arthur.

“Probably Winnywood. I have a close friend who has offered me room and board essentially for as long as I need it. After that, I might take a longer trip. Sky’s the limit, you know?”

“I understand.” Arthur grabbed a box and took it into the living room, trying to figure out where to start. He lifted up a picture frame that was face down on an end table, and saw a picture of the same unicorn with a cream-colored pegasus colt. He put the picture back on its face. “If you don’t mind me asking...”

“Yeah?”

“Why are you leaving Ponyville?”

There was a distinct pause before the reply came back from the kitchen. “Just time to move on. Start with the shelves.”

Arthur grimaced. He could tell that it was a sore subject, and he didn’t want to press it any further, but he was a little concerned that he had essentially erased any ounce of goodwill between employer and employee. “Oh well,” he said to himself. “I’ll just have to show him how good of a worker I am.” He focused his magic in his horn and levitated a few books into the first box.

Packing the shelves took longer than Arthur had expected. Most ponies he was friends with had maybe one bookcase, with the books spread out and held up by various other knickknacks so they didn’t fall over. Dapples had several bookcases, and all of them were filled. Even his parents, who had both the money and the space in their uptown loft to keep a hefty library, didn’t have quite as many books as this unicorn had crammed into this meager apartment.

“Do you want me to seal them up?” he called out to the sound of clanging coming from the kitchen.

“No thanks. I’m not quite sure what I want to come over on my next trip yet.” There was a pause, followed by a chuckle. “I don’t have any tape anyway.”

Arthur smiled. He looked down into one of the full boxes, when all of a sudden, something caught his eye. “Do you mind if I take a quick break?”

“It’s a little early, isn’t it?”

“Well, I...”

“It’s fine. You’re not getting paid by the hour, though.”

Arthur nodded and levitated out one of the books on top. The novel was about a little filly who discovered a magical amulet that could predict the future when worn by the right pony. It was one of Arthur’s favorites growing up, but it had been years since he’d last read it. He just wanted to quickly read the part where the amulet is stolen by her cruel governess...

For a moment, Arthur’s gaze went past the book, and he saw something that intrigued him even more. It was another one of the unicorn’s books, upside down in the box. On the back of the collection was the author’s picture. It was the same grey unicorn he was helping to pack.

He put aside the story of the golden amulet and picked up the unicorn’s book. He flipped it over to the cover. A typical romance cover, with two ponies nuzzling each other and...

Wait a moment.

Are those both stallions?

He flipped open the book to the middle and began to read.

“felt the other stallion press his lips against his barrel, tracing kisses down over his”

Oh Celestia! Dapples was a romance writer! A romance writer for coltcuddlers! He flipped to the beginning and started to read about the mild-mannered, but lonely colt whom, Arthur was sure, would very soon meet the stallion of his dreams. He could feel himself blushing.

He’d always shrugged off romantic literature, mostly because so much of it seemed geared towards mares. There was lots of stuff between mares and stallions, and an almost equally formidable amount of fillyfooling literature. But for coltcuddlers like Arthur, the pickings were significantly slimmer. And here he was inside an author’s home!

“What are you doing?’

Arthur turned around with a start to find Dapples staring at him. “Umm...” Arthur searched for the words. He considered denying everything, but it would be difficult while the book was still clearly in his hooves. Maybe the honest approach? “I, um... found this?”

“Yeah, and... ?”

“And I, uh... kinda like it.”

Dapples looked at the unicorn thoughtfully. “You’re a coltcuddler?” Arthur nodded. “Do your parents know?”

Arthur smiled and nodded again. “Yeah, they’ve been very supportive.”

“Good.” Dapples glanced over at the overturned picture before looking back at Arthur. “You’re luckier than you know.”

Arthur hung his head. “Not that lucky.”

“Excuse me?”

His words came out in a hushed mumble. “Ummabummum.”

“What was that?”

He murmured a little louder. “Ummavurmum.”

Dapples sighed with exasperation. “Arthur, I can’t understand what you’re trying to say to me.”

“I’m a virgin!” Arthur exploded. “Jeez!” He crossed his front hooves and turned his back to the unicorn, pouting.

“So?”

That one small word seemed to considerably lighten Arthur’s load. He relaxed and turned back to face Dapples. “You don’t think that’s a big deal?”

Dapples shrugged. “Not really. I dated for a while before I found someone I was comfortable enough to seriously spend the night with. Once you’re older and you’ve been with a few ponies, you don’t think so much about it. But I’m still old fashioned enough to think that the first should probably be something special.”

Arthur smiled for a moment, but his face quickly fell. “What if you haven’t done any dating? What if you haven’t even been kissed?”

Dapples raised an eyebrow. “Beg pardon?”

“Most ponies get dates by asking out ponies they go to school with. But I spent my school years with tutors. The only ponies I really got to spend time with were the kids of my parents’ friends. And I never felt that way about any of them.”

“Well, what do you care about?”

“I like to write.”

“Really?” Dapples perked up a bit. “What exactly do you write?”

“I’m really interested in fantasy stories,” said Arthur. “I like the idea of creating entirely new worlds for ponies to visit. Something outside of their normal lives.”

“Can you visualize yourself in that world?”

He nodded. “Definitely.”

Dapples smiled. “I want you to close your eyes.”

Arthur hesitated for a moment, but complied. He heard Dapples take a deep breath before speaking.

“I want you to picture one of those kingdoms,” he said. “I want you to see a world of knights and wizards. Damsels in distress in lonely castle towers. Its a world of royalty and peasants. Now...” he paused for a moment. “...I want you to imagine yourself a part of that world. Where are you?”

“I’m a squire, in service to a knight. I’m in his armory, making sure that his shield is shined to perfection.”

“Now your knight enters the armory, and he’s a magnificent sight to behold. Of course he’s strong, but he has a sensitivity that you can’t help but find yourself drawn to. You’ve always felt something deep inside for your knight, but because of your lowly position you could never tell him.”

Dapples continued. “He nods as he admires your handiwork. ‘You’ve done a good job, Arthur,’ he says, and gives you a look of approval. You thank him politely, but he continues to praise the work you’ve done for him in the past. ‘You’ve always been loyal to me, Arthur, and for that, I think you deserve a reward.’ And that’s when he approaches you.”

Arthur gasped as he felt a hoof caress his cheek. “He touches you softly, and you shudder at the very touch of him. He knows what you want, and he is prepared to offer it. ‘Would you like me to kiss you, Arthur?’”

The young unicorn swallows the knot in his throat, trying to catch his breath. “Oh Celestia, yes.” And then he felt the warm muzzle press into his. Suddenly, Arthur was gone, his thoughts lost in a fog. There were no anxieties about his future, no doubts about his past, there was simply the taste of this stallion, an inviting taste that made the world melt away.

The kiss ended too soon for Arthur, but his lack of oxygen told him it had lasted a lot longer than it had seemed. He took a few deep breaths, and looked up at the smiling unicorn. “That was....something else.”

Dapples leaned forward and kissed Arthur on the tip of his horn, sending a shudder through his body. “Thus endeth the lesson, young squire.” He grabbed his book from where Arthur had set it down and placed it back in the box. “That’s about long enough for a break, wouldn’t you say?”

Arthur’s jaw dropped. “What?”

“We still got some more packing to do, right?”

Arthur gave his head a shake in disbelief, before looking around the apartment. He had kind of forgotten about the job. “Um...yeah.”

“Then get to it! When we’re done I’ll buy you some dinner. Sound good?” Arthur nodded in agreement and Dapples began to walk away. Just before he disappeared back into the kitchen, he turned to see that Arthur was still watching him. He chuckled, gave the colt a little shake of his rump, and trotted back to his work.

Arthur turned back to his with a smile. For some reason, he was pretty sure he was going to enjoy life out on his own.