Pinkie’s eyes protested heavily as she tried her best to wrench them open. She let out a quiet yawn, stretching her mouth wide open, and rubbed her eyes with her front hooves. She glanced over towards the clock next to her bed, and let out a quiet groan. It was already seven, but her body was still behaving like it was four. She didn’t actually need to get up yet, since she had the morning off, but she always felt off if she slept in too much.

Another quiet yawn was accompanied by the realization that she probably should not have stayed up so late talking to Silver. She once again tried to get her eyes to finish opening up, but couldn’t quite manage it. Something about Silver made it even more fun to ramble on about nothing in particular than usual. She sat up in bed slowly and tried to think of why that was. The only sensible thought that came to her mind was that Silver was the best listener she had ever met. Pinkie let out a quiet giggle at the irony of the thought and then pondered the conclusion a little bit more. The more she thought about it, the more she couldn’t think of a better way to describe it.

Silver had listened to the entire story of the rise and fall of Nightmare Moon, even with all the extra bits and side stories added in the retelling. Then after that, she’d listened to more stories about Pinkie’s adventures in helping The Cakes run Sugarcube Corner. More important than just merely listening to all of her stories, Silver’s face lit up at all the appropriate times. She cowered away whenever Pinkie got to the scary parts, and she had even caught Silver leaning in apprehensively during the tense moments.

The more she thought about it, she couldn’t remember actually ever seeing Silver yawn or look tired until Pinkie had declared that they should probably sleep. She certainly couldn’t remember the pegasus ever looking disinterested. Her lavender eyes had been firmly locked on Pinkie as she absorbed every word. Silver had even seemed genuinely disappointed when Pinkie had told her that story time had to come to an end for the night.

Pinkie finally managed to struggle into a sitting position, the thoughts whirring through her head finally allowing her to open her eyes slowly. She gave them a quick rub for good measure and saw Silver still fast asleep at the hoof of her bed. Pinkie smiled at the sight; she had found it rather odd that Silver had elected to sleep down there in the first place. It was hard to say anything against it, though. She looked frankly adorable curled up under the blanket Pinkie had given her. Silver’s snout was just barely peeking out from the blanket and her purple trail protruded from the other end, twitching very lightly every now and then.

She barely managed to fight back a giggle in an attempt to not wake up Silver. It was difficult, though, watching her sleep made something inside of Pinkie just want to burst into the biggest smile she could. She watched for a few moments as Silver’s blanketed chest slowly rose and fell. Pinkie couldn't stop the comparison in her mind between the sleeping pegasus in front of her and Rainbow Dash. They both slept on clouds, but Rainbow always seemed to have her limbs splayed out in every direction. Pinkie took notice of the silent breaths coming from Silver as well, those would definitely have been loud snores from Rainbow.

Pinkie reluctantly crawled out from under the warm covers, wincing as her hooves landed on the floor with a much louder clatter than she had intended. She glanced nervously over towards Silver, but she was still sound asleep. Pinkie’s worried expression quickly returned to a smile and then she carefully crept away towards the door. Clouds were fine, but Silver deserved to sleep in a real bed for once. She pulled the door to the frame to avoid the sound of it latching, and quietly stepped down the stairs.

Pinkie stopped right at the hoof of the stairs, taking in a huge breath through her nose. She absolutely adored the wonderfully sweet aroma of baked goodies that filled up the entire first floor in the mornings. Pinkie’s smile solidified as she imagined all of the wonderful treats that the Cakes were preparing for breakfast. She took another long sniff, and then bounced towards the kitchen happily stopping at the counter.

“Good morning, Pinkie. You certainly seem to have some extra bounce today, what happened?” Mrs. Cake asked as she trotted by to place a pan of cinnamon rolls in the display case.

“Good morning! Not much really, I’m just really happy. I didn’t even really sleep well last night. Those smell super duper good by the way,” Pinkie added, before looking through the doorway towards the ovens cooking an array of tasty treats. She couldn’t stop her mouth from watering and let out an audible giggle.

“Really now, didn’t sleep that well huh?” Mrs. Cake teased and glanced obviously over Pinkie’s shoulder with a nod.

Pinkie stopped and looked confused for a moment, causing Mrs. Cake to gesture behind her again. She turned around slowly, wondering what was going on, only to see Silver standing at the hoof of the stairs looked ruffled. She wore a curious expression on her face and her mane was rather disheveled from last night. The furs on her coat were in even worse shape, pointing in opposite directions. Pinkie immediate burst into a fit of giggles at Silver’s odd appearance and bounced over happily. She reached out with a hoof to straighten out the purple mane the best she could, then ran a roof across Silver’s back attempting to fix her up.

“So are you going to introduce us Pinkie?” Mrs. Cake asked from over her shoulder with a knowing grin directed at the two of them.

Pinkie opened her mouth to start explaining when she suddenly realized what was being implied. Her shoulders shook a few times, and then she fell to the floor and rolled on her back as she giggled loudly. She waggled her legs in the air madly and let out a few cute snorts between hysteric giggles. She stopped for a moment and seemed to regain her composure long enough to point a hoof at Mrs. Cake, only to immediately burst back into a fresh bout of laughter.

“You thought that she and I— and I said that I didn’t sleep— and she never got to brush herself… Too funny!” Pinkie gasped out between laughs after continuing the absurd giggling for several minutes. She finally pulled herself up onto her hooves and wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Okay, okay, this is Silver Wings. She moved to Ponyville almost a week ago and doesn’t have anywhere to stay yet. She got caught in the storm last night and needed somewhere to sleep, so I let her stay over,” Pinkie explained, still giggling under her breath after she concluded.

“Silver, this is Mrs. Cake, she runs Sugarcube Corner with her husband like I told you before. They let me stay with them since I help them with the shop,” she said through another giggle. She started to laugh in earnest again, but was interrupted by a loud hiccup. This only seemed to cause her to laugh even harder, and she fell to the ground again as she laughed like a mad mare, occasionally interrupted by a loud hiccup.

“She’s awfully quiet isn’t she?” Mrs. Cake finally inquired after a long several moments of putting up with Pinkie’s antics.

“Oh! That’s right, sorry. I should have said so earlier, she can’t talk. I threw her a party, but she didn’t want the usual, everypony in Ponyville party since she was scared of how it would go. I would have invited you two, but you had plans that night and said it was okay for me to throw a party, remember?” Pinkie glanced back towards Silver as she realized that she hadn’t paid her any attention in a few minutes. Silver was wearing an amused smile on her face, and appeared to be giggling silently as she watched Pinkie talk to Mrs. Cake.

“I told her to come here to check our weather calendar every day since she doesn’t have one. So, if she wanders back into the kitchen when I’m not around that’s why, okay?” Pinkie asked as she attempted to stop her sides from shaking.

“Certainly Pinkie, you know your friends are welcome here.”

“Thanks! We’re going to head out for a bit. Well, after we brush Silver’s coat,” Pinkie amended with a giggle. “I’ll be back later to help out.”

“Okay, see you later Pinkie. It was nice meeting you, Silver.”

Pinkie waved a hoof at Mrs. Cake, and then Pinkie gently pushed at Silver’s side directing her back up the stairs. She followed behind the pegasus as the two of them trotted back up to her bedroom and Pinkie fetched a brush to fix Silver’s ruffled coat.

“We should have done this last night before it dried, sorry about that Silver. I was just having so much fun telling you stories,” Pinkie said as she ran the brush down Silver’s neck and across her back and sides a few times with her mouth.

Silver responded with a calm smile that Pinkie was learning to recognize as the “everything is fine” smile. Pinkie laughed again once more before she went back to brushing her friend down and attempting to fix her wild hair. It took several minutes, but eventually Silver was looking groomed again and Pinkie bounced over to replace the brush in the drawer it came from.

“Okay! Now you look presentable! Do you want to know where we’re going?” Pinkie questioned as she started to bounce down the stairs in front of Silver. She waited at the bottom for her friend to appear and smiled brightly. Silver stopped at the hoof of the steps once again and tilted her head to the side slightly, wearing a bemused look as she did.

“Is that a yes?” Pinkie asked with a giggle and then turned to walk out of the shop. She stopped at the door to wave a hoof to Mrs. Cake before bouncing out into the bright sunshine. Silver followed her, walking up beside Pinkie and then nodded her head in assent.

“We’re going to find you a job!” Pinkie explained brightly. “That’s why we had to be extra sure your coat and mane were fixed before we went out! I haven’t figured out where yet, but I figure if you have a friend to help explain, then things might go a bit better.”

“What are you good at, anyway?” Pinkie turned and walked around to Silver’s side to look at her flank. She opened her eyes wide and blinked a few times as she realized that it was blank. Silver winced visibly, and lowered her head slightly. Her eyes kept flicking back towards Pinkie, then darting back away as she stood stock still.

“Huh… how did I not notice that before?” Pinkie mused with a giggle at her own silliness after a long delay. “Don’t you worry, we’ll figure something out. Hey, maybe we’ll find your special talent while looking for a job!”

Pinkie turned her attention to the different buildings around town and glanced at them thoughtfully. She turned back towards Silver to see her hanging her mouth open slightly, and staring at Pinkie.

“What?” Pinkie questioned, and it was her turn to give a bemused look at the strange behavior.

Silver, opened and closed her mouth a few times as if she was trying to find her voice. She shook her head lightly a few times, then turned and stared at her flank for a moment and then back towards Pinkie. She repeated this twice more, then just stood there with a shocked look on her face.

“Oh, you expected me to freak out about you not having a cutie mark?” Pinkie questioned, and received a timid nod in response. “Don’t be silly, Silver. There’s nothing wrong with not finding your special talent yet. Besides, I figure you’ve had a hard time finding yourself when you can’t communicate. So, logically you must not have tried out a lot of things, right?”

Silver nodded again slowly, her mouth still slightly agape. She took another moment to stare at Pinkie before she finally shook her head lightly and composed herself. Pinkie laughed quietly at Silver’s antics, and then returned to thoughtfully looking around the buildings around her.

Pinkie was struck with a sudden idea and started to bounce off. She paused to make sure that Silver was still close behind and made her way over towards the gigantic tree that housed Golden Oaks Library. As Pinkie arrived at the doorway, she heard the swish of wings only to see Silver landing behind her when she turned, the pegasus breaking into a trot to catch up.

“Why didn’t I think of this before? It’s perfect!” Pinkie exclaimed as she walked into the library with a curious look on her face.

“Heeey, Twilight? Twilight!” Pinkie called out loudly, and started to look around for her friend.”

“Hey Pinkie, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked as she emerged from the kitchen, with her mane askance and her eyes barely open.

“Oh, I came to ask if you needed any help around the library. Silver really needs a job, and then I remembered how annoyed you always get when I start getting loud in the library. So, then I thought to myself “Pinkie that’s perfect! Silver can’t talk so she can’t annoy Twilight by being loud!” So, I brought her here to check,” Pinkie concluded excitedly. She bounced in place a few times happily as she wore a proud expression on her face.

“While that line of thought is… surprisingly sound, I already have two assistants remember? I don’t really need any more help around the library between Spike and Owlowiscious,” Twilight said gently, trying her best to put on an understanding face.

“Aww, that’s too bad. Do you have any ideas on where else we could check? I’m helping since she probably has a hard time getting interviews, and you were the first idea I had.”

“Did you check with the weather patrol? Rainbow seems to always comment on them trying to get more help, what with having to keep a good watch on the Everfree Forest and all the weird weather it generates,” Twilight suggested through a yawn.

“Ooh! That’s a great idea, thanks Twi!” Pinkie exclaimed, and bounced over to give Twilight a hug. Twilight let out a quiet laugh, returning the hug before she shunted Pinkie away tiredly.

“We’ll see you later Twi! Come on, Silver.” Pinkie bounced out the door and then turned to wait for her friend. She saw Silver wave a hoof to Twilight before she stepped out the doorway.

Pinkie happily bounced along the main road towards the edge of town. She checked a few times to make sure that Silver was still keeping up with her. The few times that Silver fell behind, she took to the skies and swooped back down next to Pinkie to try and keep up with the energetic pony. There weren’t that many ponies out, but the few that they passed called out to Pinkie as they went by, and Pinkie returned the favor wishing them all a good morning by name.

Finally, they came to a small, squat structure at the edge of town. It seemed to have been put together by somepony who really didn’t know how to work with wood. The result was a plain looking box sitting alone amongst all the other finely crafted structures of Ponyville. There was a simple, utilitarian white paint on it, and the outside was completely unadorned except for the logo of a winged cloud over the doorway. Pinkie curiously peered through the window on the door before she opened it slowly. She had seen the building before, and she had certainly seen Rainbow coming in and out of it as well, but she’d never actually been inside.

The interior was a bit more brightly decorated, but really only because of the posters that seemed to be everywhere. The walls were a plain white, and there were posters with safety slogans were plastered all over them. Near the doorway was an array of posters bearing ponies striking dramatic poses, with a few pointing a hoof at the viewer beckoning the viewer to join their cause.

“Hi!” Pinkie called out brightly to the receptionist, as she walked up to the desk.

“Hello, please sign in on the clipboard. Put down your name and the purpose of your visit, please,” the blue earth pony intoned blankly, barely even deigning to look up from the book she was reading.

“Okay, but what do we write if she’s here for a job?” Pinkie questioned, and then peered at the list of names curiously.

“If you’re here for a job please take these and fill them out. Bring them back when you’re done and somepony will be out to see you shortly,” the receptionist stated flatly. She hoofed a surprisingly large stack of papers on a clipboard over the desk to them.

Pinkie eyed the stack of papers with surprise before passing them over to Silver. The two of them retreated over to the seating area, and Silver placed the clipboard down on one of the tables before grabbing the quill carefully in her mouth. She wrote very slowly, making sure her marks were clearly legible and took quite a long time to move through just the first piece of paper.

“Wow, that’s a lot of paperwork isn’t it? I wonder why they need that much information,” Pinkie mused out loud as she peered over the forms. Her eyes widened slightly as she lowered her head down to the table level in an attempt to count the stack of papers. Silver nodded at her and then went back to carefully filling everything out.

After what seemed like an eternity to Pinkie, Silver glanced over her hoofwork carefully to make sure she hadn't missed anything. She flipped through the pages a few times and then grasped the clipboard in her mouth to walk it back up to the desk. She placed it gently in front of the receptionist and waited a few moments for a response.

“Thank you, somepony will be out to see you in a few minutes,” the receptionist said automatically, not even glancing up from her book this time as she reached up and moved the clipboard over to a shelf behind her.

Pinkie and Silver went back to sit in the waiting area and sat next to each other as they glanced around the room at all of the posters. Pinkie tapped her hoof impatiently on the floor a few times before she caught sight of the receptionist glaring at her and stifled it. After what seemed like fifteen minutes later, a large brown pegasus stallion walked out holding what Pinkie assumed to be the same clipboard.

“Silver Wings?” he called out questioningly, ignoring the fact that they were the only two in the waiting area. They both got up and started to walk over towards him, but he stuck a hoof out trying to halt Pinkie’s advance.

“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait here while we conduct the interview,” he said gruffly.

“But you can’t have the interview without me silly!” Pinkie said brightly and smiled over at Silver who nodded in agreement. The stallion flipped through the pages of paper in front of him a few times, and then looked back at them with a confused expression.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t see anything about that here. Why exactly is that?”

“She can’t talk; I’m helping her look for a job. So obviously, if you want to interview her, then you can’t without me since she’s mute,” Pinkie explained simply, but hung her mouth open slightly at the response she got. The stallion let out an audible sigh and put the clipboard back onto the reception desk next to him. He then directed an annoyed expression at the two of them.

“If that’s the case, then I don’t think the interview is even necessary…” he finally said and started to pull the papers from the clipboard, making to toss them in the trash.

“Wait a minute buster! You’re not even going to talk to her first?” Pinkie demanded, causing him to hesitate for a moment.

“Listen, it’s nothing against your friend. It’s just that being a weather pegasus is more dangerous than most anypony seems to realize. A large part of the training is learning to recognize the dangerous situations before they happen, and then subsequently alerting other ponies to that danger,” he explained slowly, putting on his best menacing glare. “When ponies are careless, or when they don’t call out in time, that’s when somepony gets hurt. If your friend can’t talk, then she can’t follow our protocols about warning other ponies about danger. I’m sorry, but if she can’t do that then she doesn’t have a place in the weather patrol. Good luck on your job hunt,” he concluded and then retreated into the back room before they could respond.

“That seemed like such a good idea too,” Pinkie said with a frown asshe retreated from the building with Silver. She glanced around town thoughtfully for a moment before she made up her mind.

“Let’s get some breakfast. That took a bit longer than I expected. Ooh, what about a job in a restaurant!” Pinkie exclaimed and immediately bounced off again. She burst into a bright smile, not letting the setbacks deter her. She heard the swish of wings as Silver had to once again take flight to catch up to her as she made her way back into town.

“Well, that could have gone better… They didn’t need to be so mean about it, either. All I did was ask why a waitmare needed to be able to speak,” Pinkie grumbled with an adorable pout.

“I think I’m starting to realize why you keep to yourself, Silver,” she added with her ears drooping slightly.

Pinkie continued to take Silver around town, checking in almost every business she could think of. Their luck only seemed to get worse as they went, though, most of the ponies just flat out saying no before they could even get anywhere. The only place that didn’t seem to mind Silver’s muteness was a carpenter that seemed to barely speak a word himself. Silver, however, was clearly terrified of the shop as she backed slowly out the doorway after eyeing all of the sharp tools and woodcutting machines. She shook her head vehemently at the prospect, and it took five minutes for Pinkie to coax her out from behind the bush she had retreated to.

“I don’t know Silver… I’m out of ideas. We’re not giving up, but I have to get back to Sugarcube Corner to help the Cakes soon,” Pinkie admitted with an air of defeat as she walked slowly back home, all of the bounce gone from her step. She couldn’t understand it; nopony seemed to even want to give Silver a chance. She had heard such a huge range of excuses that it made her sad that all of these ponies, her friends, could be so mean.

She was startled from her dark thoughts as she felt Silver’s hooves wrap around her neck, followed by the gentle pressure of Silver leaning against her side. Pinkie immediately broke into a bright smile as Silver hugged her tightly, and she nuzzled her head back into the pegasus. She picked her head up after Silver broke from the embrace and looked straight back to her friend.

“Thanks Silver, I needed that. I tried, I really did. We really aren’t giving up, okay? I promise,” Pinkie said seriously. Silver nodded and reached out with a hoof to tickle Pinkie’s side playfully. She burst out laughing immediately, and Silver stopped shortly afterwards giving her a wide smile and a meaningful glare.

“Okay, okay, you’re right. I won’t make sad faces anymore. Why don’t you come back and check the weather calendar? After that, though, I have to actually work at the shop,” Pinkie said and resumed her normal bouncing as she made her way home. She heard yet another swish of wings as Silver trotted up next to her with a bright smile on her face.

“Tonight is clear, but apparently there’s going to be some more showers later in the week. So, you can come over again, alright? You don’t need to actually wait for the bad weather by the way, you’re free to come over anytime you want a bed to sleep in,” Pinkie added brightly as she glanced back towards Silver who nodded with understanding and a happy smile.

“I’ll see you later, okay Silver?” Pinkie asked and gave a light hug to her friend. She started to bustle around the kitchen, checking up on the supplies of everything, seeing what she needed to get started on. She turned around to check the display case and saw Silver standing there with a chef’s hat perched on her head, a smile plastered across her face.

“What, you want to help? I’m not sure if the Cakes are looking to hire anypony…” Pinkie stated, trying to hold back a giggle at how silly Silver looked wearing the hat. Silver kept smiling, and walked over next to Pinkie, looking down at the ingredients expectantly.

“Well, if you have nothing else to do, I don’t see why not. Just let me check out front real quick!”

Pinkie reappeared a moment later with a bright smile on her face, and stood next to Silver for a moment. She then started to zoom around the kitchen gathering up more supplies and placing them onto the counter top so that their setups were mirrored.

“Did I tell you about the time Fluttershy made a dragon cry?” Pinkie asked suddenly, and Silver shook her head, watching Pinkie with rapt attention.

“Well, these rolls are super easy to make, so just watch what I do. It all started when this big black cloud started spreading over Ponyville from a nearby mountain…” Pinkie started off, as she mixed up the dough slowly and deliberately so that Silver could mimic what she was doing.

“So, Princess Celestia sent Twilight a letter telling us that we needed to find a way to get the dragon to sleep somewhere else. If we didn’t, then all of Equestria would have been covered in black smoke for a hundred years! Fluttershy was super scared, because she doesn’t like dragons. Well, she doesn’t like adult dragons. She’s fine with Spike for some reason, but Rainbow wanted to leave her behind because she was being super scaredy about it. Twilight insisted that we should all come, though, and that was good because without Fluttershy…”