Wednesday, March 2, 2016

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Today's Horoscope (Virgo): If you're not careful and don't plan ahead, you might not survive what's coming. Remember, I won't help you.

After School

Tennis practice...

Coach reminds us that the girls' first matches are on Saturday. Fortunately, they're happening here in Canterlot.

After practice, Pinkie and I go to Sugar Cube Corner for a snack. "I hope I'm not totally wiped out from...y'know...stuff on Saturday," she says.

"Yeah..."

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Chrysalis, her tablet on the table as she eats a piece of cake and drinks a cup of coffee. None of her kids are around... "Hey, Pinkie, excuse me a second."

"Sure."

I walk over to Chrysalis' table. "Hello."

She looks up and smiles thinly. "Well, hello yourself." She glances past me. "Your girlfriend?"

"Best friend. My girlfriend's at fencing practice. We're just taking a break on the way home from tennis."

"You play tennis?" she asks. "I enjoy a match from time to time myself."

"We won regionals, but we didn't make nationals. The girls' season starts Saturday."

"I see." She sips her coffee. "Perhaps we'll come out to support the team. My daughters just started at CHS yesterday."

"Huh. I haven't seen them around campus," I say. "Then again, I've been pretty distracted..."

"Well, it's only been two days," Chrysalis says with a shrug. "My children are busy unpacking at the house. I've been working on it since Saturday, so I decided I needed to slip away...a moment to myself, so to speak." She looks around. "I heard this place was quite popular. I can see why."

"Yeah, the food's good, you can relax, the owners are nice..." I glance at her tablet. "Working on your resume?"

"I don't intend to sit around all day doing nothing," she says. She sighs. "At the same time...I don't think I can bring myself to re-enter the corporate world. Not after the disgrace I've suffered. It's not that I don't think I'd be hired anywhere. It's just...I don't see myself learning the ins and outs of a new company, under scrutiny from resentful former business rivals and associates..." She shakes her head. "It's too stressful." She glances at her tablet. "I've been thinking about other possibilities, but...I'm too overqualified for most, too old for some, and...well..."

"Still getting over what happened."

"There's that." She sighs again. "I know it'll take time to adjust, and...and there's no hurry, but...I'm worried that if I put this off too long, I'll...I'll put myself out to pasture. I'm just not ready for that yet."

"You'll figure something out." I glance back at Pinkie. "I'd better get going. Homework, guitar practice..."

Chrysalis smiles. "It was nice to speak to you again. Perhaps we'll bump into each other from time to time, now that I'm...well...less occupied."

I head back over to Pinkie, who's just finishing up her milkshake. "Isn't that that lady who got fired from some big company?" she asks.

"Yeah. I bump into her around town from time to time. Her kids just transferred to CHS." I grab my shake and finish it off. "Let's go."

Evening

I'm not even back five minutes when Apple Bloom asks for help with her homework. We talk while she does her homework, with me guiding her through some of the more difficult problems. After that, I head upstairs to do my own homework before dinner.

After dinner, I'm in my room practicing my guitar when Applejack walks in.

"Hey, uhh..." She shifts. "Ah ain't botherin' you, am Ah?"

"Not at all."

She walks in and sits down. "Ah been on th' phone with Papa," she says. "He's keepin' his spirits up, but..." She sighs. "Ah don't honestly know how much longer he's got."

"It's that bad?"

"It feels that way sometimes." She shrugs. "Anyhoo, that ain't whut Ah come up here fer. Ah was thinkin' about this weekend, an' all th' good y'all done for mah family." She smiles. "We can't never repay y'all fer all yer help."

"You don't need to," I say.

She shrugs. "Ah jes'...Ah feel like Ah'm drownin' in all mah troubles sometimes, y'know? But Ah gotta be strong fer Papa an' Big Mac an' Apple Bloom." She frowns. "Ah saw th' way Big Mac come alive with y'all around. He ain't never been as chatty as he was this weekend. Ah never thought about it before, but...he ain't really got any guy pals. Ah dunno whut y'all were yakkin' about, but y'all sure opened him up."

I snort. "Funny, I'm not usually much for guy talk either. I guess we just clicked."

"Anyway, it was good t' see..." Applejack frowns. "Be nice if y'all could spend more time like that."

"So, did Twilight help you get some of your business stuff organized?"

Applejack laughs. "Hell, Ah still don't understand half this stuff, but...she did organize all th' records an' bills an' what-not, an' showed me how t' keep it all straight. Maybe Ah'll have a worm's chance in a henhouse of figgerin' this stuff out now." She sighs. "Papa wants me t' git away from all this fer Spring Break. Ah jes' don't see how Ah can."

"You're working yourself too hard. Everybody needs a break."

"Ah reckon," she says. "It's jes'...Ah dunno..."

"Well, you've got a few weeks to think it over, right?" I shrug. "Hell, I don't even know what everybody has planned for Spring Break yet."

"Well, knowin' this lot, Ah reckon everybody's gonna wanna go down t' th' beach," Applejack says.

Hmm...a week at the beach with the girls...

"Anyhoo, Ah'd best git on t' bed now," Applejack says. She stands to leave. "Jes'...thanks again."

Once she's gone, I finish up my guitar practice for the day, then get ready for bed.