The next day rolled around about as fast as the other two days. With the sun rolling down to allow the moon some time in the sky, before starting to retake its place for the coming day. Hues of orange, with darkened blues from the clouds rolling past the continent filled the skies. Morning birds getting up and making the city almost seem abandoned at first. Until the first ponies, who rose up at the crack of dawn, set out for their respective destinations. Whether it was their jobs, or the train station for the earliest possible trains to Southern or Western Ceyonait. Of course, fast forward an hour or so and Cluttered’s household finally saw activity. With Cluttered waking up first. Sweet and Acidic waking up before Sour as the Earth Pony still felt down. Not as down as before, but still clearly not happy. The hourglass at this point was sitting quaintly on the windowsill, with the lavender fire trickling down from the top to the bottom. Most of the contents having fallen, with the lavender fire at the top looking almost bare and small in comparison to the mound of lavender fire below. The fire being more plasma-esque compared to regular fire. Allowing it to be like normal fire and sand.
Sweet and Acidic headed for the front room the instant they got up. Being greeted by Cluttered as they had formed a habit of usually waiting for Cluttered before they took a shower and did their morning routines. After which they usually woke Sour up as the last of that said routine. Whilst the other two were enjoying the increasingly limiting days, seeing the light of the situation, Sour still felt cheated. Robbed of a life that he thought would be the freedom from the pressures of royalty. Many times flashing back to the moments as Covet, where he was bombarded by what felt like a cacophony of judgmental comments and pessimistic opinions about him. Mainly from his father. For as much as he reflected and realized that maybe he was favored by his father over Stardew, the comments levied and thrown at him often felt harsher than what Stardew ever received. Was it his father having higher standards for him over Stardew? Who knew. Sour certainly didn’t.
After finally being woken up by Sweet and Acidic, Sour yawned as the quilt he used was pulled away from him somewhat. “Five more minutes…” he groaned as the other two refused to let him sleep in any longer than he already had. “If you don’t get up now, you’ll sleep in all day” Sweet responded. Using his magic, he lifted the final grasped part of the quilt Sour was clinging to and snatched it from him. Folding it neatly and then placing it with the others he had folded prior, when he got up. “They need to be washed anyway. Might as well fast forward the process” Sweet then remarked, prompting Acidic to give him a side eye as he simply added on a “Right” in a very sarcastically acknowledging tone. Sour flopping out of bed, slamming down on the floor with a simple groan of pain that was muffled by his face being smooshed against the floor. Getting up slowly, and a moment after slamming down.
After Sour got himself up and stretched himself out, he proceeded to follow in the hoofsteps of Sweet and Acidic. Trotting to the bathroom to shower and then coming back down the stairs a little after getting out and being mostly dry. His mane being in the stage of barely damp, but feeling cold. As Cluttered was already sat down, with a plate of toast and a good old morning coffee. “I made you guys some. But it’s probably cold. Still worth eating though!” Cluttered chirped. With the other two following in after Sour came back downstairs. Acidic hovering over to the kitchen to give Sweet and Sour their food as they both sat down. Acidic being the last to get his food, and the last to finish as the three focused on eating to get their energy for the day. Cluttered taking their plates after they finished as Sour looked out of the nearby window. The day had broken and the outside looking at the path down to the city had the sun shining down. It wasn’t odd, but it made him appreciate the smaller things in life for a brief moment. Things like the sun, or the day, which he took for granted. Which was strange when he decided to reflect in that very brief moment given the Early Morning versus Late Night Alifest. Something that he was the Early Morning leader for, and Early Mornings usually being his thing. It was events like the coronation, or the dreadful feeling leadup to the hourglass running out of time, that made him want to wither away in his bed. Truly, it was the stress of these things that prevented him from liking the Early mornings anymore.
As soon as Cluttered came back in from the kitchen after taking the four plates and his cup of coffee out, Sweet and Acidic got up. They both seemed slightly quick about it, which seemed strange at first. Until Sweet spoke up. “I have to help Soundwave and Duskfall” Sweet added, remembering the day before and the packing the three of them would have to do. Acidic added on “Yeah, I promised Dawn that I’d help her with stuff she needed to do. Like packing potions she has made for ponies. Then we’re heading to Buckgrove’s Pegasi Packing Emporium. Much fancier name than Manestralian National Post”. With the pair then trotting off as Cluttered sent them off to their respective destinations. Closing the door and coming back into the front room as he looked at Sour. “You know, I have to go to the market today. For Autumn Gathering. You should come along. It’d help take your mind off of things” he suggested to Sour. At first, it fell on deaf ears. However, Sour seemed to be slowly processing it as he finally muttered “Alright, sure” after a few moments. The pair getting up about half an hour later to head out as Cluttered took his saddlebags. Presumably for whatever they picked up at the market. With Sour taking one last look at the inside of the house before Cluttered closed the door. With a whistle of the slight breeze, the pair set off to the market.
Surprisingly, for Sour at least, the trip down to the main city, combined with Cluttered trotting to the market, with him following really only took about another half hour. Ponies seemed to get more and more in number the closer they were to the market, so Cluttered used that for indication as to where the market was. “Shouldn’t a market be stationary? Like a store?” Sour asked aloud, seeing that they weren’t headed to a building. “Well, for Autumn Gathering, all the local food stores put up stands in the Buckgrove city park. Since it has a plaza and such. They also set up the donation area there too!” Cluttered then explained. Making Sour just a little more intrigued. “So” Sour then began. “What is Autumn’s Gathering again?” he then asked, prompting Cluttered to turn around with a half-shocked expression on his face. “I thought I told you about it already” he simply said to himself as he sighed, and then proceeded to explain. “Autumn’s Gathering is a day we all spend collecting food to donate for winter. These days it’s used for the ponies who have trouble with food shopping as a free donation area. I had to use it a whiles back, so I know how it properly works. But back in the times before the Ellestros-Ceyonait unity, this event was something that everypony did in Ceyonait to prepare for the ice-cold winds and harsh weathers around the wintertime. Does that make sense to you?” Cluttered then asked at the end of his sentence.
“I… Well, yes” Sour responded. Feeling somewhat stunned. “How come you guys don’t talk more about what happens around the city or continent like this?” he then asked, prompting a very simple answer from Cluttered. “It’s easy. You never really bother to ask. So, I don’t tell you things you don’t want to hear”. Sour stopped for a moment, building up for protest, before Cluttered stopped him and then asked “What? Is that not a reasonable train of thought?” which ended up shutting Sour’s protest down before it had even fully started. Sour simply muttering “True” as the two finally found themselves at the city park. The gates already being open as a number of ponies were already in or entering. Stalls set up all around as the center area was already piled up with a mountain of food and other necessities. “Huh. Must’ve expanded” Cluttered remarked, seeing the other things besides the food making their way to the donation pile.
Beginning their trot around the market, Cluttered started with some soup cans. With Sour taking everything in. It was almost endearing to see all the ponies around them doing the same thing. Under the motivation of one precise goal. The better part of it was that none of them seemed to mind, with them all even helping one another as he saw a young filly trip. With nearby colts and fillies helping her up. As they went around, more and more started getting added to Cluttered’s saddlebags. From the soup, to vegetables, to fruit and more. Eventually, Cluttered was also carrying two additional bags of food. Both filled to the brim with essential food such as cheese, hay burgers, potato chips, crisps, and the like. Sour looking at Cluttered with some concern until they finally made it to the donation pile.
“Phew, finally” Cluttered said to himself, taking his saddlebags off whilst Sour took the other bags of food off of Cluttered’s back. “Jeez… Talk about overcompensating” Sour then remarked, huffing as he was barely able to lift the other two bags off of Cluttered’s back. “They’re not that hard to lift, you know. I was gonna slink them off myself. But thanks” Cluttered then said, looking oddly at Sour as he shook his head slightly. “Well you said I should come with you, so” Sour began as he wiped his head. The ambush of heavy bags making him feel somewhat tired just from lifting them. “You really didn’t get out as Covet, huh” Cluttered then remarked, interjecting before Sour could respond. To which Sour immediately responded with “Well, if we go by technicalities, I’m used to using my trusty levitation spell. At least, I was” as he used his hoof to point to where his horn would be if he were in his alicorn body. Cluttered simply rolled his eyes as he quickly said “I know what and where a horn is dude” as they both then proceeded to finally trot off out of the market. Autumn’s Gathering successfully pledged to and successfully survived. Now there was only one thing for Sour to really do.
However, that wouldn’t come until the rest of the day was mostly done. Both of them residing in Canvas Corner until the sunset as they both headed to the beach. The first place they met eachother at. The pair enjoying the ocean breeze, with the clouds rolling past like they did in the morning. Although, more in the direction of Buckgrove now rather than just in the oceans. Seeing the ocean painted in a pastel sort of orange from the suns light, Sour finally got to what he had wanted to enquire about. His curiosity on the topic unable to be contained. With himself breathing in, Sour got to the point. “So, you seem rather happy lately. What gives?” he asked. With Cluttered slowly turning to face him. A look of slight confusion hitting his face. “What do you mean?” Cluttered then asked back, prompting Sour to try and explain what he meant.
“Well, it’s just that, when we first met you and after the Spring of Body you had that episode. The one where we tried to talk to you about your childhood and such”. “Oh… That. Well…” Cluttered then began. Now knowing and trying to form the words in his head to say. “I figured, if I got you… Or Sweet… Or Acidic to keep me preoccupied, I’d not enter those states of mind. You didn’t see the worst of what happens of course. I think the red on those canvases and the knife was enough of an indication for that. Anyway, I figured distractions would be the best solution” Cluttered then explained. Sour sat for a moment, unsure of what to say, until he asked “Are you sure the distractions are… Good? I mean, as in a long-term solution to those episodes, I mean?” as Cluttered gave it a thought. He put his hoof to his chin as he answered “I mean… For now, yeah? I know that it’ll stop working someday but if I can deal with it now through that solution, I won’t need any help in the future, right?”. Sour shook his head however, not liking the answer all too much. “I think that you should probably look into a therapist. Or somepony to talk to about these things. It’s good you’re trying to stop what happens but… Well… If it fails you’re back to square one” he then responded.
This prompted an interesting statement from Cluttered. One Sour never really thought of in terms of when he dealt with his own mental issues. “Well, there’s no single way to deal with what I deal with. Sure a therapist could work. But I don’t personally think it’s for me. I think that keeping myself busy, content and happy is the best way to manage this. If a bad thought comes I’ll let it pass. I’ll just stay where I am momentarily until the thought disappears. Then I’ll continue onward. I do that because the thoughts get worse if I try and repress them. It’s always good to let it all out” Cluttered said, making Sour ponder for just a moment. He never considered the fact that there could be other ways to deal with those types of issues. He always wanted to just focus on therapists and the baseline ways. But he never, even when he did rarely get to speak to somepony about his issues, ever thought about the fact that resisting his own thoughts and issues could’ve been a big factor in why he felt the way he did. It was a big moment of discovery, that was for sure. It was something he wanted to share with the other two, however he figured they would see what each of them went through once he reformed. So, he opted in his mind to wait until then.
However, Cluttered then asked him something he, again, really didn’t expect from him. “So” he began. “Is there anything you want to talk about? As in, with what you might be dealing with?” Cluttered then asked. Prompting a slight automatic flinch movement from Sour as he recoiled somewhat. “I… Well…” Sour began as he thought of the obvious issue. “I mean, the fact that I have to go to the Spring of Soul tomorrow night is… Worrying. The other two already have their Spring’s complete. What makes it likely that I’d succeed. Given what we all experienced there before, what’s to say they won’t come back? Harmonous, Arcane and Dallasite certainly won’t help. They barely do. Infact they’ve caused more stress than relief. Especially considering that, everytime I try and protest, they throw a big raging foal fit and start trying to kill me, Sweet and Acidic” Sour then explained. Making Cluttered shocked for a moment from the stuff Sour had let out.
“And that’s just about what I’m worried about right now” Sour then added on. Prompting Cluttered to try and think of what to say. That was, until he seemed to have made his mind up about something. In his head, he was thinking of ways to help alleviate the problem and how to solve it. He was worried about how he would cope with his problems once the trio left them. But, given he knew of another land now existing, he responded with something quite bold for him. “Once it all happens, I’ll go with you to Manestralia and we’ll all be here for you” he said, making Sour turn to him with some confusion. “But your home and life is in Buckgrove… Isn’t it?” he asked Cluttered. Cluttered nodded, but then replied with “Well, yes. But there are way too many bad experiences within this town. A new place might help me out. If I get away from the trigger points, I’ll be okay. Plus, you have somepony to come to should things in Manestralia get too awful or stressing” which make Sour hold back some emotions. “I… Alright” he simply then said, feeling very grateful and feeling things he’d not felt in years.
He felt like he had a genuine friend.
Which was slightly tragic. Given the circumstances. What if he was just whisked back off to Manestralia? With no way to bring Cluttered, Soundwave, Duskfall, or Dawn with them? It was quite the turnabout in the emotional area of his soul.. It was only after Cluttered asked him “Uh… You okay? You’re crying” that he realized that he was, infact, crying. Tears were falling off his face like a river using a waterfall. He was even unaware that he was affecting the oceans ever so slightly. Almost making it fiercer. Then again, he never noticed that. But Cluttered sure did. Saying “We better head back inside. Those clouds are coming this way and the sea is acting restless” as he got up. Wiping the tears from his face, he got up after Cluttered and the pair proceeded to head back up to Cluttered’s house. The dread of the hourglass only heightened, but appreciation for his life as Sour becoming apparent as the sun flickered in the horizon. Moving down and mostly disappearing. The night rolling in as the other two made their way back to Cluttered’s house as well. One more day available until their supposed reformation as Covet. One more day of normalcy.
One more day of happiness.