“Thank you ever so much, dear,” Mrs. Cake said as I hefted another load of confections onto the back of a delivery truck.

“It’s fine Mrs. Cake,” I assured with an easy smile.

“Really, this couldn’t have happened at a worse time. Pinkie went off to Manehatten with her sister just before Carrot threw out his back while watching the twins,” Mrs. Cake sighed as she lifted another box off the counter.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake had received one of their biggest out-of-town orders in years yesterday. Unfortunately, as Mrs. Cake had said, Mr. Cake was hurt and Pinkie was on a trip with her sister Maud and Rarity. I had been on the hunt for a banana nut muffin for breakfast when I noticed Mrs. Cake looking rather distressed.

In my experience, when you live in a small town asking the question ‘what’s wrong’ will either get you waved off with a forced cheery smile or they’ll tell you their whole life story before finally getting around to what’s actually the matter. When I asked what had Mrs. Cake looking so stressed, I got the life story. Honestly it was something I had both loved and hated about visiting my grandfather on my Mom’s side of the family out in Virginia.

So after about 15 minutes of talking my ear off, Mrs. Cake finally told me about the deliver and the lack of people around to help her load the truck. Having nothing better to do, I offered my services as a pack mule. Mrs. Cake gratefully accepted and that’s how I had ended up spending my morning loading up a truck.

“Is this the last of it?” I asked as I slid another box into place.

“Yes it is, and thank goodness,” Mrs. Cake sighed as she put down her own box, trying to catch her breath.

“I could’ve done it all by myself, you know,” I told the older woman.

“Absolutely not, you already swindled me into hiring you for only a banana nut muffin,” Mrs. Cake huffed playfully.

“That’s me, Ranma Saotome, con artist extraordinaire,” I giggled as Mrs. Cake swatted my shoulder.

“Alright, you, get out of here with your ill-gotten gains. I’m sure a young thing like you has plenty of better things to do than to hang around with an old woman like me,” Mrs. Cake demurred.

“Mrs. Cake, I can say with confidence that you are nowhere near old. My mom is old. She’s a good twenty years older than you,” I remarked.

“Alright, now I know you’re nothing but a sweet talking charlatan,” Mrs. Cake smirked as she shook her head.

“OK, I know when I’ve overstayed my welcome. I suppose I’ll just have to find other pretty young lasses to charm for my own nefarious ends,” I chuckled, “Say hi to Mr. Cake and the twins for me.”

“Of course, dear, see you later,” Mrs. Cake bade and I left. There was a strong sense of satisfaction as I headed back to the Castle to get started on my delayed daily routine. I had been in Ponyville for slightly over a month now and things were going great for me. I had started work on getting my own home a few days ago; I was in shape and greatly enjoying my lessons with Summer, I couldn’t have asked for a better person to become, and I had some amazing new friends.

So why in the name of all that was good and holy couldn’t I relax and just be happy? Well, maybe that’s being a bit overly dramatic. I was as happy as I could ever remember being. However, my ‘happy’ was what most would still consider feeling a little blue.

I know full well, intellectually, that telling someone who’s clinically depressed ‘you have a good life so get over it’ is about as helpful as telling someone who has a headache that a bullet to the brain will solve their problems. That still didn’t stop me from feeling guilty that I wasn’t in abject euphoria. Just another wonderful aspect of the mental health disorder we call depression.

I pushed these thoughts aside as I turned my thoughts to happier things. Luna had sent me a letter saying she’d be visiting me soon. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to spending more time with the beautiful best princess.

Summer had also arranged for me to participate in a beginner’s tournament in two week’s time. It would be my first chance to really test my skills since I had taken Karate all those years ago. With that in mind, I spent the next hour practicing my forms and thinking about my future.

I'm really sorry this chapter was late. I was pouring so much focus into finally finishing Standing United that this ended up a bit neglected.

Speaking of Standing United, for those of you who follow that series of mine, it's been submitted for approval and should hopefully be live in a couple of days.