Four Pegasi were gathered outside of Headquarters, waiting for their manager Mister Everstorm to come out and give them instructions. Usually then a company bus would arrive to take them to the field... they'd have anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes to wait for it. The four didn't even acknowledge the pair as they walked up next to the building and stood beside them.

At first they ignored the two and the two ignored them. This is how it always was... neither group really liked the other, but they worked together just fine. Derpy and Cloudfire were given the left overs to mop up.... places the Pegasus were too important to bother with. The one time Derpy and Cloudfire called in on the same day, having enjoyed some spoiled milk together, and all four were given a down-dressing at the end of their shift for not having done a very polished job. When Cloudfire heard about this he laughed... the two really did serve a purpose and that proved it. Not that the Pegasi would ever admit it, though.

Derpy looked at her reflection in the glass, playing with the bow in her hair and giggling... she smiled at Cloudfire. who grinned and nodded.

A stockier Pegasus in the group, his dirty mane shagging in his eyes, his breath stinking of strong cider, noticed Derpy's bow and gold chain.

“Hey... look at that. You guys going on a date afterwards or somethin'? Don't want to get that dirty... not that it matters if Cloudfire gave it to you.”

Cloudfire glared at the stocky Pegasus.

“Hey, be nice now...” a thinner Pegasus butted in. “How would you like to be him? Aside from having no wings, of course. I'm wondering Cloudfire, how is that working for you? And also, how are... what to we call them? Oh yes, 'Derpy's Unofficial Hints' … how are they working for you?”

“She's taught me what there is to teach and we keep busy...” Cloudfire replied, patting Derpy on the back. “Except when we call in and you guys have to pick up the slack... when you remember to.”

“Please,” replied the thin Pegasus. “She can barely see and you expect to learn the fine art of litter pick-up from her? Anypony with good eyes could teach you better...”

“We do a good enough job that when we're not there, there is a difference.”

“Two more Pegasus and we wouldn't need you two." Butted in an older Pegasus. "You horrid, little misfits--”

“Those two do just fine!” Snapped Mister Everstorm, coming out of the building. He was a tan unicorn with a thick mustache and 5 years experience in Celestia's personal Guard.

All ponies became quiet as their Manager spoke, their eyes suddenly facing forward:

“The bus will be along any minute... we're going to the Canterlot Hedge Maze and Gardens. Team Fire Hooves,” he approached Derpy and Cloudfire. “I marked your quadrant on the Map. I know you'll do a good job.” He gave each of them a piece of paper, then turned to the rest also passing out papers. “The rest of you, here's your quadrants. We have 5 hours in which the Garden WILL be CLOSED... it's hard to believe that anypony would be disrespectful enough to DESICRATE the Maze and Gardens, but one party later it's bad enough to warrant us. It disgusts me that multiple ponies would do that, but heck, it wouldn't entirely surprise me if some of the canned-cider loving ponies in this fine unit contributed to this mess in their off time...” He glared at the shaggy-haired Pegasus. “They're offering 15 Bits a bag, 20 if it weighs above 10 lbs. I will be inspecting the contents of each bag briefly when I put it in the truck... it anypony tries to pull a fast one on me like last time, filling their bag with mulch or grass, they're getting the boot. Any questions?”

“No Mister Everstorm, sir!” All the workers said at the same time. This was pretty routine for them, they'd just have to be extra careful because it was more or less sacred grounds seeing how the Mane 6 challenged Discord there.

Off in the distance Cloudfire could see the bus approaching. Though it had maybe twenty seconds before it was there, the ponies started lining up behind their manager.

“Just remember, sweethearts, to have fun. I'll be in the bus going over paper work should you need me to answer any questions or do the heavy lifting with my Magic.”

Cloudfire smiled at Derpy as the bus approached.

“Typical day,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah...” replied Derpy, squeezing her new locket against her chest.

Mister Everstorm approached the two just as the doors opened:

"Don't respond to them, Ground Team, you're better than that." He glanced back at his crew. "Degenerate misfits." He then took a good look at Derpy's new trinkets. "Very nice... the bow compliments your mane well."

"Rarity would be happy to hear that." Cloudfire said under his breath, rubbing his Special Somepony's shoulders. "I know I am."

The Manager then turned into the bus, boarding it first (like always).

The ponies all stepped inside, only to have the bus take off moments later... having a schedule to keep, afterall. It was going to be a good 45 minute ride to Canterlot, so both ponies reclined. Surprisingly Derpy fell asleep in minutes.... Cloudfire would be there to wake her before they arrived.

The whole ride neither Cloudfire nor Derpy looked over the map. They'd be out of the hedge maze, in the gardens themselves... using their little sticks to pick up whatever trash they could find. The Earth Pony didn't see this being a very good day for trash pick up, but they were still going to try.

He woke his Special Somepony once the road to the castle was in plain sight. Both ponies were always surprised by how big it really was once they were up close. Derpy said her “Wows,” and “Oooohs,” and “Aaahhhs” as the bus passed regal architecture and Unicorn and Pegasus Guard on patrol.

“They always look so serious,” said Derpy, studying a gaurd. “And they dress funny.”

“That's because they're there to protect not only the castle from evil forces, but also to hold off anything that might want to come in and harm the Princess.” Replied Cloudfire. “It's a very serious job and takes good armor... just in case.”

Derpy nodded her head, studying each gaurd as the bus passed them.

They had arrived and the groups split up. Team Fire Hooves was walking some of the main paths of their quadrant as Cloudfire read the map, plotting out a logical path for them to take.

“It's interesting. There are a few places we can loop around and end up right back where we started. The whole Garden's like a grid! We can use that to our advantage. What'd ya say we get started, eh?”

“Okay, Cloudfire,” said Derpy, disinterestedly looking off at some beautiful flowers. “This would be a good place for a date sometime.”

“Yes, it would.” Replied Cloudfire, firmly. “But right now we have a job to do.”

“Yeah...”

“Derpy, are you okay?”

Derpy sighed:

“To be honest, I don't want to be here working today... now that we're Special Someponies, I kinda just wanna spend some time with you.”

Cloudfire kicked himself HARD for asking her that question at the beginning of the day instead of the end.

“Well, that's not in the cards right now. We've got work to do and we can't blow it off... they only reason we're still here is because we do a good job.”

“I know, but --”

“No buts!” Cloudfire snapped.

Derpy looked ready to cry.

“Tell you what, Derpy... how 'bout we make a game of this?”

“A... game?”

“Yes, a game... since the paths are plenty wide and loop well enough, how 'bout we trot along and as we're picking up litter see if who can find... oh, I don't know,” he looked down at the ground and noticed a cigarette butt, poking it with his stick. “The most of these?”

“That sounds pretty fun.”

“Alright, then... it's settled. We'll keep track of how many we find!”

Together they trotted off, looking closely at the ground as they went.

Hours passed and once their bags grew to the size of a pony's torso, they were dropped off at the bus to be weighed. Neither went over the special limit for a bonus, but they'd at least get something for the day other than the 10 bits for showing up. Derpy laughed happily as they trotted though the Gardens for round two. By the end she only had two and a half bags... Cloudfire had three.

It was depressing to Cloudfire when he realize just how more quickly he could see things than his Special Somepony Derpy when they picked up the pace a little. Cigarette butts he had almost double. Gum wrappers, potato chip bags, cans of pop and cider. He got considerably more stuff now that they were playing a game and going speedy. What was equally disturbing to him was, seeing how they were given the entire Gardens as a quadrant, the Gardens weren't in terrible shape overall, but it was surprising how much trash was strewn about the place. This was a place he'd been to only a handful of times, and had a large amount of reverence and awe for its majesty, yet there were ponies who didn't give a flying feather about any of this. It was just a big, quiet park to them, right next to an old castle with a Princess known to forgive anything short of undisputable treason.

It was the end of the day. They'd made some bits, but their Pegasus co-workers had found a downed tree in the Hedge Maze... there were only a handful trees in the whole Maze compared to the Gardens. After checking with the manager, it counted as trash since it had been forcably knocked over by kicking ponies at the party.... the four split a massive 200 Bit bonus for it.

Derpy was tuckered out, but still excited to be going to the Sugar Cube Corner to celebrate. Cloudfire was going to share his extra Bits with his Special Somepony... because not only did they get the Gardens clean, but if they were going at their normal speeds those extra Bits would probably have gone to Derpy... plus, it was just how Cloudfire rolled.