The events of the previous Sunday had gnawed at Derpy throughout the week. On her mail route, some of the ponies had noticed that she wasn’t staying to chat as long as she usually did, and at home Colgate, the neighbor that she was closest to, pointed out that she was listless and sullen. But Derpy had concluded, rightly or wrongly, that if Karyn couldn’t confide in her as to what her problems were, then Derpy asking for help would be doubly unproductive.

But time moves on, and at last the new Sunday came, and Derpy hoped that she would resolve the situation, one way or another. She made her way to the rendezvous point and switched over to Earth, and tried to approach Karyn as quietly as she could. She half-wished that Karyn would have slept in as she did on occasion, which would let her take her place at the breakfast table and force Karyn to make the first move.

Derpy was half-lucky. Karyn was in the shower, and somehow through the din of the water she heard Derpy appear, calling out, “Is that you?” Now Derpy had no chance of concealing herself.

“Yes, it’s me! Want me to start making coffee?”

“No, I’ll be out in a moment.” As though to support her statement, Karyn turned off the water with a squeak of the handle. “Let me just put up my hair.”

That left Derpy with nothing to do, so she brooded around the kitchen, not wanting to shout through the door any further. She wished for Karyn to hurry up, but it took her five minutes to emerge.

“Sorry about that,” she said. “If I just magic my hair to a proper style, it still gets tangled and makes it harder to deal with. Maybe I should just shave my head and be have a permanent changeling-do.”

Derpy laughed, and it was a good feeling. “How are you doing?”

“Good, good…or did you mean on the tests?”

“I didn’t mean that, but I’ll be happy to hear about them.”

Karyn looked over at her computer. “Glad to be done, first and foremost. But overall, pleased with the results. A pair of B’s, a pair of A’s, and one grade that I’m still waiting on, but I feel very good about what I wrote on the exam. That’s the stressful thing, though. In my estimate I got an A, but I can’t be sure until the grade comes out, and even then I’ll either have my estimate confirmed, or I’ll be disappointed. There’s no chance of anything better.”

“I see your point. But aren’t you happy to have them over with?”

“Definitely. I can look forward to moving on to senior year now. Who knows, maybe freshmen will be scared of me now.”

The happiness was in her words, but not in her voice. Derpy decided to pursue further. “And you’ve got my little calendar to use between now and then. Awesome summer coming, right?”

“You bet.”

The feeling still wasn’t real. Karyn set about making breakfast, and Derpy, not knowing what else to do, surveyed the room for her usual inspection. Karyn had cleaned in earnest, possibly from having nothing else to do outside of her tests. It looked better than most weeks, but still not ready to go home for summer. Karyn would have a lot of packing to do, and Derpy made note to offer to help.

Karyn put two mugs of coffee on the table and plopped down into the seat by one.

“I can keep an eye on the toast,” Derpy said.

“Thanks, I’ll appreciate it.”

Derpy took a deep draught of the coffee. It was hot in her mouth and bitter. She lowered the cup into the saucer with enough force to give it a little rattle and attract Karyn’s attention. She scowled. “In Celestia’s name, what is it?! I can tell that something’s wrong, and I knew it wasn’t the studying. I hoped I was wrong, that you’d be back to your old self, but I knew it wouldn’t be that way. Whatever’s eating at you it’s tearing me apart, and I can’t help you until I know!”

“Derpy, what are you talking about?”

For a moment, Derpy said nothing. Then she shook her head. “Nice try. I’m sorry. I don’t want to be a bad friend, but sometimes being a bad friend is the only way to be a good friend. OK, that sounds dumb, but, you know what I mean. Something is wrong. I’ll do anything to fix it. I have a whole bag here full of spells that we can use together. Is it money? We’ll go convert lead into gold and I don’t care if we get caught. Is it Mike again? I’ll turn him into anything we have to to make it right.”

“It’s nothing that magic can help.”

Just as she hadn’t missed Karyn’s evasion, Derpy didn’t miss that Karyn had finally admitted something was wrong. “If it’s not in this bag we’ll go back to Equestria and beg Lyra or Twilight to make a spell that will work. Or we’ll go to Princess Celestia and Luna and have them stop the sun and the moon until it’s right. I’ll…I’ll hold up everypony’s mail until they help!”

Karyn laughed at that, but stopped when she saw how serious Derpy was. “All right. You want to know what’s going on? You want to hate me for it? I know I shouldn’t have, but I did it anyway. Notice anything missing?”

Derpy took a second look. She was far better at spotting things that were out of place and present than at seeing missing items. But this was important. Karyn had gestured toward the desk, and for a moment Derpy feared that the laptop was having problems, but then she saw the space where, for the past few months, an Equestrian scroll was kept.

“You lost the names of which ponies we’re bringing to Earth? That’s no problem, we can go back and regenerate it.”

“Yeah, we could.”

Karyn moved as if to get her things so that they could go to Equestria, but Derpy stopped her. “But we don’t have to. Is there a reason?”

“Yes. The fact is that I don’t want to do the pony tours, at least not for the summer.”

“Can I ask why?”

“In the first place, they’re really wearing on me. Half of it is the ponies themselves, and I worry about them getting out of hand. But then there are the humans, where I’m afraid I don’t know enough.”

Derpy extended a wing. “We don’t have to include humans in the tours. Other than you, I mean. And I can take care of rebuilding the list on my own.”

“It’s more than that. I really don’t think I want to do the pony tours over the summer. Like I said, it’s my last one, and I know it sounds extremely selfish, but I just want to spend it, kind of going retroactive. By which I mean spending time with you, or goodness forbid, alone.”

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be alone. I have too much of it, so it’s not for me. The one thing to understand is that you can’t let being alone make you keep your problems inside. Even if you don’t want to come to me cause I’m a pony, it has to be something you can talk to your parents about.”

Karyn took the wing in hand, carefully not pulling too hard. For a moment she looked bright. “It’s really all right if we don’t have any more guests for a while?”

“It’s all right if you don’t ever want to have them, or if you want to have a dozen guests at once, or whatever you want to do.”

Derpy hoped, and half expected, that giving in to Karyn would cheer her up. Instead, Karyn did pull on the wing, making Derpy lean forward, and broke down crying. She was unintelligible for a few minutes before she could sob out something that sounded like, “Thank you.”

Now Derpy had a new hope, that having broken through Karyn’s sang-froid, she would at last learn what it was that was weighing so heavily on her friend’s mind.

“I must look a fright now,” she said when she had at last calmed down. “I should magic myself back to what I should look like.”

“Why don’t you go into the bathroom and wash up proper instead?”

“That sounds like a good idea. Thanks again.”

When she had finally emerged again, Karyn sat down. “What you need to understand is how much of a crossroads I’m at in my life. I have so many decisions to make. I don’t even know if I’m going to go home for the summer.”

“Really? Tell me about it.”

“I’ve been considering keeping the apartment for the two months of the summer. Now, right away that’s a huge expenditure I’ve been trying not to plug into the spreadsheet where I keep my budget to watch what it’s going to do to my bottom line. Then I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to do about a job for this summer, and that’s not going to be easy. Basically, I’ve got to choose between jobs I’ll have a decent chance of getting hired for, jobs that will pay well enough to pay my way through next year, and jobs that will give me better standing for actually starting my career.

“And whatever I do now is going to be huge next year when I actually have to put together a resume and start looking for a job in earnest. And that ties in with why I want to keep the apartment, but…oh, Derpy, I’m going to be an adult! And I am not ready for it!”

“Come here.” Derpy extended her hooves and got Karyn in a proper hug. A human, or indeed any non-pegasus couldn’t understand, but wings weren’t made for hugging.

“I don’t know if you can really come to grips with what I’m facing. Just the fact that I’m confessing to a cartoon pony instead of another human…oh, that probably sounded terrible, didn’t it?”

Derpy let the slight pass. “No, I don’t know everything about it, and I might not be the perfect person to talk to right now, but I have one advantage over everyone else. I’m here.”

“You are. I would even welcome Dinky’s advice, since she’s going through a similar period in her life. Can you ask her for me?”

“Sure. You could write a letter to her and I’d mail it. And maybe doing so would help you break this all down for me, because I’m still not sure I understand everything.”

Having expended all her energy, Karyn at last was able to calm down. She let out a breath that shook with nerves. “All right. Now, here’s the problem. If I stay in the apartment, I’m still close to the city. I can drive in to the companies there if I can find work.”

“Or just go to look for work.”

“That’s exactly what my dad said, and his error is less forgivable. If some pony needs a job, I’m sure they go around making applications, and that’s how it used to be on Earth too, but now all the applications are online.”

Derpy got to smile for the first time that day. “That should be perfect for you then.”

“They’re not made for, or by, computer-savvy people. So when I’m applying I’ll just be going from website to website anyway. Now, that fact is definitely a point in favor of staying, rather than living at home and have my parents asking why I’m not pounding the pavement.” Before Derpy could be confused at the expression, Karyn continued. “But on the other hand, that kind of a job might just be what I want. I could go home and go back to standing behind a counter at a fast food place. It’d probably be a lot easier to get work there, and I’d make more money, which would mean a more fun time next year.”

“Mmhm. Go on.”

“Well, like I said, it’s either go for the internship here, which will still be tough to get and might leave me spending the whole summer applying fruitlessly, or go home and work for pay, easier to get and with money, but then next year I’ve got to start applying with a less impressive resume.”

Derpy’s relieved smile became a full-on grin. “You want to know how I know you’re going to do OK?”

“Huh?”

“I’m telling you, I know that whichever choice you make it’s going to work out well.”

Rolling her eyes, Karyn said, “Why? Because I’m special and have magic?”

“No, because all this time you’ve been talking you never once suggested not looking for a job. You’re talking about it like you’re going to spend the summer working either way. Now, it’ll be hard to stick to that drive, but having it is a good step in the first place.”

“It doesn’t mean anything. The hirers don’t know what I’m thinking.”

“It does mean something.” Derpy stopped there, but then decided that she had to continue, even if it was hard. “You remember I told you about when I was raising Dinky, and I was still with her father Rocky, right? He was out of work a lot, and he never talked about when he would work, only if.”

“Well, I’ve gotta work. With all you’ve drilled into me about budgeting, it’s not going to look good if I don’t get work soon. And in another year I’m actually going to have to start paying those student loans, so…”

“Hey!”

Karyn finished trailing off her previous sentence and was once again paying attention. Derpy kept going.

“Didn’t that Jim guy say that he would get you something?”

“He said he would try. And that’s more for when I’m fully graduated. I’ll put him on my search list, but there’s only so much power that an IT person has in hiring people. That’s part of the problem, like I said: dealing with human resources people who don’t know enough.”

“Well, all right, so we’ve got some work to do this summer as well has having the most awesome fun times ever.”

“We?” asked Karyn.

“Yeah. I’ll help you in any way I can.”

“You know, that might actually be something there. What I’m going to need from you is to lean on me. If I get complacent, if I’m not working hard enough, I need you to be hard on me and tell me to do more. It’s like, I’m sure my parents will do that, but it’s different with them.”

“Haha!” said Derpy, taking to the air. “It’s just like how you got on me about my weight!”

“If that helps you, then yeah, it’s like that.”

“Speaking of which, how about we go out to get something to eat?”

“Now, hang on.” Derpy was already heading for the door, and Karyn moved quickly to block her. “If we’re going to be committing to making our lives better, that’ll cut both ways. I think instead we should eat in and eat healthy.”

Derpy grumbled at that, but had to accede. Karyn set to work making a spartan breakfast with inexpensive ingredients.

“Besides,” said Derpy once they were eating. “If it comes to it, you’ve got a good network of friends and family who will make sure that you never go hungry. At least, not for reasons of poverty.” Her stomach grumbled as though to underscore her point.

“I know that. Even though I’m not a pony who can just go out and eat the grass, that’s not what I worry about. But in the first place, when you get help from someone, there’s always payback to be made. That’s one reason I’m trying to get away from my folks. I don’t like owing them, even owing them the obligation to show up when they call. But more to the point, you can’t ask people for help when it comes to things like, well, funding our awesome summer.”

“No, I see your point. So you’ve made your decision.”

“I haven’t!” Karyn poked at her food with her fork. “It seems like I have, but every time I feel like I’ve come to the right conclusion, all the negatives come back to me and all the positives of the other decision.”

“If only there were a way for you to see the outcome of both decisions. The problem is that you lack knowledge. If you knew exactly which jobs you would be offered in each scenario, it would be easier to pick.”

“Of course, but we can’t do that. Can we? Do you have a spell for that?”

“No. Didn’t you hear me say, ‘if only there were a way”? Karyn might have responded, perhaps questioning Derpy’s rare linguistic ability, but Derpy didn’t pay attention. She was hard at work thinking. Just because there wasn’t a magical way to provide Karyn with more information didn’t mean there wasn’t a practical way. It might be that she and Karyn relied a little too much on magic, but she put that thought aside for later.

No, even if she couldn’t get perfect information, if Karyn was teetering between two options, really all she needed to do was push her a little bit, make her take one step in the right direction. In Derpy’s mind, the right choice was for her to stay, though of course it was easy for her to think so. What she really needed was a third party to help out.

Both ideas came together, and a light bulb turned on over Derpy’s head.

“I have an idea!”

“Yes, I saw the light bulb. I didn’t think that happened to ponies. It feels like more of a cartoon cliché, and maybe it’s something specific to you.”

“Wait right here.”

Derpy went for the door, and Karyn momentarily forgot all her troubles. “Where are you going? You can’t be seen outside!”

“I’m not going far. Trust me.”

True to her word, Derpy raced around to the front of the house with all the speed she could muster, and kept her eye on the road in case any cars or pedestrians happened to come by. She was prepared, if spotted, to pretend to be a kind of statue, or to bolt for the sky if she thought she could escape detection that way.

But neither of those precautions were necessary, as her knock on the door was soon answered. Gayle peeked through as she opened the door only a crack. “Hey! Derpy, how you doing? Have you heard from Maud lately?”

“I haven’t, but I’m sure she hasn’t forgotten you. In any case, could you come around to the apartment? Karyn needs to ask you something. Or I do, for her.”

“Sure, let me just clean my hands. Working, you know.”

“We’ll wait for you.”

When Gayle finally arrived, Derpy greeted her at the door. “So Karyn’s thinking about keeping the apartment for the summer. Do you think you could accommodate her?”

“Hey!” said Karyn. “I didn’t say that I was set on doing so. Gayle, I didn’t commit to that. I’m still not sure I want to. Derpy spoke out of turn.”

“We’re supposed to take turns?”

Gayle laughed at that. “Of course you can. If you don’t, it’ll just sit idle, though I would have a chance to paint it for you.”

“Ooh, Karyn. Maybe you should go home. Gayle’s great at painting.”

Now it was Karyn’s turn to laugh. “There’s a big difference between house painting and artistic painting. But no, really, it’s just part of a bigger decision that I have to make.”

“Look,” said Gayle, sitting at the table. “I hadn’t planned on having you around, and you’ve got to remember that your rent, for me, is walking around money. I’m doing all right, maybe even better since Derpy revealed herself. I’ve had a whole new line of inspiration. Forget about that. The point is that I can afford to be a little loose with the rules. So how about this? You stay for July and August, but you only pay August.”

“You would do that for me?”

“Well, it’s kind of that ‘pay it forward’ thing. A lot of people have done nice things for me over the years. But like I said, I can afford it.”

Karyn stood up like she wanted to hug Gayle, but held back. “One condition. If I get a paying job here in the city, the deal’s off and you’re getting your July rent. OK?”

“That’s up to you. If you need the money, don’t hesitate to take it. Just do me one favor?”

“Anything.”

“Let me get back to work now. I was kind of in the zone when Derpy showed up.”

Karyn of course bid her a hasty goodbye, and once again she was alone with Derpy. “You really embarrassed me there.”

“I’m sorry, but hey, everything worked out all right, didn’t it?”

“I guess they did. In any case I’m feeling better.” Finally Derpy believed it to be true. “In fact, you know what? Just go ahead and keep on embarrassing me.”

Author's Notes:

Last week I promised a big announcement, and this week I deliver. Go here to read all about an important time in the development of this story. Also I will tell you what the next chapter is about.