The desolation of...Heartspan's house

Heartspan lead them only a scant four blocks away. where his two story home stood empty, dark, and forgotten in the evenings embrace. he pulled out his keys unlocking the door and flipping on the lights. It looked way worse now that he had left it abandoned for so long. Ash and burn marks covered nearly every surface. No matter where he looked there existed no personal item, no pictures of family, no memories really. It was empty of the things that gave homes life. A small pang of sorrow drifted into his heart but he banished it as quickly as he could.

This would be a good evening as he had good company and his very first guests.
he stepped in and stood to the side giving them room to come in.

" Well, this is my home." he said with a small blush " You are in fact the only ponies i have ever invited over so i am pleased to welcome you. "

Jasmine fluttered along side Heart and her sister stary as they traveled the modest distance away from their house.  Her eyes strained to take in the details in the shadow of the darkness.  It sat alone, abandoned, in desperate need of some tlc.  As the stallion opened the front door and turned on the lights her eyes widened as she struggled to mask a grimace from the extent of the fire damage.  TLC indeed.  But nothing is impossible, and knowing what hard workers her and her sister are they have no choice but to fail their way to success for their new challenging assignment.

"I'm pleathed ath a paramethium to be here!"  Jasmine beat her wings over the floor testing for dust before turning to her employer.  "Well Heartthpan, you sure are right about thith plathe needing a bit of TLC...   But rejoythe that your cleaning thervithe ith up for the call of duty.  WE'll even add a mare'th touch to the plathe and put in flowerth if you like!  And thinthe we're two mareth your houthe ith going to be exthtra thpiffy!"  Jasmine giggled at her joke as she trotted around the room running her wing along a table before craining it back to her face.  She peered at her feathers and clicked her tongue as she shook her head.  

"Tho what exthactly thtarted thith fire in the firtht plathe?  No wonder you're not really home that often..."

Starry trotted inside the home, her eyes glued to the ash and burnt surfaces. "Well, this isn't as bad as I thought!" Starry said of the ruin of a home, "at least all the walls are still standing; I bet we won't even have to lift a paintbrush! In any case, let's get to work!"

Starry levitated several buckets of supplies and industrial-grade chemicals through the door and placed them neatly in the center of the room, before grabbing a small broom and an empty metal bucket to sweep the ash into. "Good thing I'm wearing this apron, because I'd wager we'll be covered in ash before this is all over!"

"Oh!" Starry had just recalled being welcomed into the home, "and thank you for inviting us in! We hope to make your home a place worth inviting ponies into!"

he smiled at the two. at least starry's words sounded optimistic.

" Well, as far as i can remember i cast a spell and poof there was fire everywhere." he replied.

Well he was not going to let his "maids" do all the work.

" So what chemicals do i mix to clean this stuff up he said as he looked at all the fancy labels.

he picked up two random bottles levitating them in the air.

" will these two work." he asked somewhat cheerfully. Then a thought struck him.

" you know if you want you can just live here and i will pay the rent all you would do is take care of things here ...mostly for yourselves."

he nodded once as if confirming his thoughts. he rather liked the idea of room mates, he could even store things here without having to worry that they would be stolen in his absence. not only that but he worried about these two. they did not really seem capable of holding down steady work. He did not want them to end up homeless. Plus they were so fun and unique it that they brought an easy smile to his careworn spirit.

Jasmine smiled at Hearspan as he picked up two mystery bottles and asked about their compatability.  "You should totally jutht try it out Heart!  Who know'th... You might jutht end up making a crazthy thuper cleaner that remove any pathogenth and houthehold thtainth!"  Jasmine cantered along his furnature as she began to dust them off with her wings.  Dust flew into the air and loomed in the space creating tiny clouds and sending little dust bunnies tumbling down to her hooves which appeared to be attached to scrub brushes..

Even as the orange mare began her mission to tidy up the place she couldn't help but dance as she slowly worked away cleaning up the debris.  Her ear perked up at his generous offer and she thought hard about it.  If they fixed up this place, maybe it might make for a good party location.  After all, fire damage could make good atmosphere for a fallout party- plus everypony likes rent paid for in the form of hard work.  "That actually might be cool!  Oh my goodneth we'd be like live in thervant'th.  I'll have to think about that, I alwayth think that the more the merrier!  It'd sure make thurprithing  you with breakfatht in bed a lot eathier.  We'd probably be able to thneak in all the other mealth with the time we'd thave on walking."  

Jasmine fluttered over to the chemicals and picked up one in her mouth and unscrewed the cap.  A sharp and stinging odor seemed to jump out of the bottle, causing her eyes to water.  eager to get started she reached down and grabbed the bottle in her mouth causing the liquid to splash out as she clenched it in her teeth.  The odor eventually grows too strong for the mare causing her to sneeze and drop the bottle. "OOPTH!"  Desperate to get her mony's worth she begins to kick the bottle around the floor tyring to evenly distribute it's spilling contents.

Starry pointed a hoof at Jasmine while nodding in approval. "That's right, Jasmine! Heart, you should try to experiment and see if you can invent something neat! Mix and match, and good things are bound to happen! But not with those two chemicals; that will make mustard gas. Keep trying, though!"

Already clearing a table of all it's ashes, Starry levitated the bucket out a window, and spread the contents of the bucket across the back yard. The bucket came floating back inside, all the while Starry speaking.

"You know, our mom might go nuts if she discovered the two of us moved in with a strange stallion our first week in Ponyville. I wouldn't mind sleeping closer to wear I work, but we'd still have to keep the house we're renting, just to keep our mother from... well, being herself."

heartspan listened intently and had no idea what mustard gas was but since it did not sound safe at all he simply lowered the chemicals. The mares seemed to be doing an ok job he thought as he took a look at jasmine spilling the cleaning chemicals all over the floor. Then again maybe not.

" So your mother would get mad?" he asked absently as he watched jasmine " er....i dont think you are using that right jasmine."

He let out a patient sigh while shaking his head. he cleared off a place to sit since he really had even less cleaning skills than his new friends.

" so why did you move out here to ponyville, why not live in canterlot or manehattan?" he asked them.

Jasmine tossed a large towel over the puddle of cleaner and placed her fore hooves atop it.  She leaned her body back and braced herself as she began pushing herself with her hind legs across the floor, creating a type of make shift mop.  The charred parts of the floor gave the mare some trouble while she attempted to polish the surface to a shining clean surface.  Here and there without warning the towel would snag completely almost sending her toppling over, but without missing a beat she would return to her mopping position and continue polishing while talking to her stallion friend.

"We ended up out here looking for a new thtart bathically.  To paint a picture of our family for you, we came from a nithe family in canterlot.  A pleathant houthehold complete with a thocialite mother, thcientitht father and two adorable mareth following in their father'th hoof thtepth...."  Jasmine stopped and took a seat where she was as she adjusted her maid bonnet.  "Our entire life our mom kind of tried to raithe Thtarry and I to be the perfect little mareth.  She put uth through danthe clatheth, muthic, thinging- you name it!  Hoping that we would eventually earn a name for ourthelveth in high thothiety."  Jasmine fluttered into the air and did a twirl before landing on a single hind hoof after performing an arial pirouette.

"Which ath fun ath the lethonth were, we were meant for a different fatheth."  Jasmine looked back toward her lightbulb cutie mark with a grin, "Ain't that right flank!.  Yup thith of courthe dithappointed mom drathtically, and it didn't help that Thtar and I were a couple of huge prankthterth..."  

Jasmine shot a grin toward her sister "you know where thith ith going huh Thtar?"

With all attention on Jasmine's story, it might have come as a bit of a surprise to see Starry trotting out from the kitchen with a fresh batch of cupcakes on a baking sheet levitating in front of her. They were all topped with green, pink, baby blue or violet frosting, each with a slice of apple on top. Starry had swapped out her maid apron for an identical one, except this one read 'kiss the cook'.

"Oh, I know where this is going! Cupcakes, anyone?" Starry offered the cupcakes to her friends as she took a seat next to Heartspan. She cleared a spot on a table to put them.

"It was a little more than a decade ago, on our birthday. Jasmine and I are twins, so we have the same birthday. Anyway, our mother decided to throw a big party for us, like she did every year, and invited all of her high-society friends and their children, who we didn't really know much at all except that we weren't allowed to upset them or their parents. Well, it being our party, we decided that the party should be more to our preference, so Jasmine cobbled together some chemicals and I made a harmless little bomb that, when everyone gathered around the cake and our mother cut it, exploded and got cake all over everypony! Nopony else thought it was funny, though, but it was our birthday, so it was worth it. We were still grounded for weeks, but our mother never brought those friends to another birthday party."

Heartspan sat and listened to jasmine's story. The mare slid her makeshift mop across the floor, here and there it would snag and jasmine would have to recover from a near fall. The whole image brought a smile to his face. However as he listened he felt himself place a hoof on the gem at his chest. Thoughts of his own childhood invading his mind.

The sudden sound of Star so close him nearly made him jump. How she had manged to be so quick startled him to a degree but he was quick to recover his sense and took a cupcake as it was offered to him, listening to star as she concluded the tale. He smiled at the thought of a big bomb ruining their birthday. He looked out the window Star had been using to get rid of old cleaner and into the evenings darkness.

“ Well, I guess your childhood was not much different from what I recall of my own. Both my parents are socialites though. They run a jewelry store also in canterlot. They do well and think I recall the type of sophisticated ponies that would gather for “dinner parties'. Thankfully birthday's seemed different. Such a boring way to be I think. Worried about the latest fashion and such. This is what provoked me to wander aimlessly. I would rather be a hobo than to suffer another fancy party.” he commented absently

many darker thoughts, observations of their society came to mind but he kept them to himself. It was clear that these two were too lighthearted to be concerned with the face he saw of equestria. He looked from one mare to the other with a smile.

“ I wish I could have seen such a prank when I was a foal.” he said with a half laugh “ I would have died laughing, and probably got grounded for it too.”

he could not help but blush deeply at the look of them in their made outfits. It seemed almost too adorable. It also made him realize he had no heart for such a thing. he was not cut out to have maids and such. Thinking of it made him blush more, and he began to feel bad that his new friends were doing the very same as the maids at his parents home. It just didn't seem right to his mind.

" Er...you guys look very cute and ...i appreciate the help." he said shyly " but you don't have to be maids. I mean if you need some money help i am sure i can do it, but this...this is just too much....i feel like one of those "dinner Party' ponies...."

he grew more bold and looked at them more strait forwardly " i mean you can stay here as i am almost never home for very long, and my parents help with money when i need it, but i can afford this place just doing odd jobs and eventually i might find something worth selling and that would pretty much cover everything. I just think...you know...if we are gonna be friends...well i can't have you cleaning, feeding, and dressing me...it's not right."

A sound from the kitchen caught the orange mares attention, causing her to turn toward the source.  As she did so her eyes caught the attention of Starry's famous cupcakes.  Each were thoughtfully prepared with fancy icings and a slice of apple.  "OH MY GOODNETHH! ME DO ME DO!"  Jasmine flew right over to her sister and grabbed a violet one.  She looked over the sugary treat with a happy sigh, nibbling the frosting off the top before actually taking a bite of the whole thing.  

As Heartspan told them of his past she nodded excitedly, she loved hearing about other's past.  Probably the best thing about discussing past experience was drawing similarities that she shared with other ponies- and surprisingly she found alot that she shared with heartspan.  The thought it was surprising that he was from Canterlot as well, suddenly curious if they ever ran into him in the large city- although fairly unlikely.  The mention of pranks brought a grin to her face as she made a mental note to bring him along on a prank.  Even now she pictured them setting up traps down town for unsuspecting ponies to fall into- ending up covered in powder.

Jasmine took another bite of her cupcake just as Heart mentioned that he didn't require their services anymore, "-KAGH!"  Caught completely off guard Jasmine sucked in a large chunk of cake covered in frosting, blocking her windpipe.  She clutched her throat with her hooves as she tried to cough the cake up.  A thud from her flank sounded out as she dropped to the floor finally managing to dislodge the treat.  

"We-were fired!?  Already!?  But... Heartthpan!"  Jasmine gave a small frown as she looked between Starry and her friend.  "Did we not do a good enough job?!  I promithe that we'll get better over time!  It'th becauthe I didn't polish the floor ith it?  Or can you not afford it?  I- I'll give you a good prithe!" Jasmine's eyes dashed back and fourth as she brushed her mane behind her shoulder with a hoof trying to gain her composure.

Starry rocked back and forth on the chair as Heartspan spoke. It might have looked as though Starry weren't listening since her eyes were darting around the room, but her ears were tuned in to what Heartspan was saying, even if her gaze and her appearance suggested otherwise.

There were a million things racing through her mind as Heartspan spoke; she wanted to talk about socialite parents, fancy parties, Canterlot, moving out; an endless supply of topics flooded Starry's mind as she listened to Heartspan speak, but the flood stopped the moment Heartspan suggested he didn't need them as maids.Starry's jaw dropped at those words, and her petrified stare hinted at the mental devastation wrought by those words.

"B-b-but.... we wore the outfits just for you! All we wanted was to make some bits working and dress pretty at the same time!"

Heartspan looked from one crushed face to the other, and then promptly turned a deep unnatural shade of crimson.

" Well....you did a fine job...and I appreciate your goals and you both look amazing. I just thought maybe you would be annoyed having to do this sort of work." he spoke shyly. " I have never had my own maids....only my parents , but those maids weren't really my friends....er..."

he sighed and slumped his shoulders. he felt terrible for having upset his new friends. he was terrible at this making friends business.

" Well, if you are ok with it and want to stay on then i am more than glad to have such amazing friends as my maids." he concluded " but if it is a bother to you.....well being friends comes first, right?"

he hoped the two would understand what he meant. he could feel himself digging a deep hole socially speaking, and he just kept on digging with every word that came out of his mouth.

( btw jasmine you made another typo ^^ lol )

"Of course friends come first! And as your friends, it's our pleasure to serve as your maids!" Starry flashed a wide smile before turning toward the fireplace, dusting the ash off the mantelpiece with small broom. She paused after a few moments, as if an epiphany had suddenly struck her.

She turned to face Heartspan, with a smug, 'I know what the problem is' sort of smile. "I know what the problem is!" Starry remarked, "You're thinking of servants. Like, work sixteen hours a day for almost no money at all, who get room and board and only half-a-day off a week servants, like they did back in the old days or kinda like over in Canterlot sometimes. We aren't servants, though, we're maids. Kinda the same thing, especially since you offered us room and board, except we're not paid in slave wages and we get more time off. In fact, we sorta set our own schedule, if that's alright with you; as long as the house gets cleaned. That way, we can be maids for multiple ponies and take classes in Canterlot to fulfill our long-term dream of becoming scientists!"

Starry brushed the ash out of her dress and mane with her hoof, and opening her mouth to speak, coughed on the ash.

"So really, it might kinda look like exploitation, especially with these normally-degrading uniforms, except it's totally the opposite! And these uniforms are awesome, and help us get in character, like a role-playing experience! I love role playing!"

Jasmine tilted her head toward her back as she tried fanning more air for herself with a wing.  Her hoof slumped off her chest as she gave a long and heavy sigh before standing up again.  With the news that they were no longer unemployed again, her heart ceased to pound in her chest as a smile of both joy and relief returned to her face.

"And trutht uth when we thay that we wouldn't do thith if we didn't enjoy thith.  It'th kind of nithe becauthe we get to take charge over our dethtiny."  Jasmine trotted over and placed a hoof on Starry's arm.  "We're not foalth anymore and thith will be our chanthe to thpread our wingth and make it on our own.  Maybe we'll be able to tell Mom that we don't need any monetary thupport at all.  Pluth everypony in town will probably think of uth firtht if they need any help around the houthe- with our quirky uniformth and all."  Jasmine stretched out a forehoof and hind leg as she posed in her outfit and looked at how the dress fitted her.  "Theriouthly, I wath worried that we'd never get to uthe thethe thingth!"

With a skip in her step she bounded over to a nearby book case and outstretched her wing to the shelf and brushed her feathers over the dusty surface back and fourth.  Clouds of dirt stirred into the air as she dusted over the volumes with her wing with a grin.  "Tho when are we moving in then Thtar?! Um, we are moving in right?"

( ironically i was waiting for starrynight to post, but all along i somehow missed that she had already posted ^^ wow i feel myself quite dumb ^///^ )

Heartspan nodded once as he listened to both mares, his eyes gliding over the room and it's various states of clean and unclean. For certain he had been thinking of servants by stars definition and this line drawn between these mare and his parents servants made him feel much more relaxed and at his ease. he watched jasmine dusting the book case.

" Well i am sure you both will do fine on your own. " he replied " and thank goodness you explained this stuff as i will admit i was thinking of servants."

He rubbed his chin in thought for a moment.
" Well what will you guys study in canterlot. I have never roleplayed myself and i hope you will be able to find tons of work." he said smartly " Ah you are both so energetic i hope i have not neglected any of our various topics. I feel so much more at ease now i was concerned that putting you to work would make you think poorly of me."

( and again i am so sorry guys ^///^ please forgive me yes ^.^)

Starry raised a hoof to her chin. "Hmm, you know Jasmine, I don't think it would be wise for us to move in here. We did just get settled at our house, and no offense to you, Heart, but you're the first pony we've met in Ponyville. We can't possibly make a decision of this weight with a sample size of only one. That's un-scientific!"

"And speaking of science," she continued, now addressing Heart, "that's exactly what our major will be! science!!! We're going to unlock the mysteries of the cosmos! From the highest celestial bodies to the smallest particle unknown to Pony-kind!"

Starry dragged a crate of soap from the corner to the center of the room, before climbing atop it and posing dramatically; her legs spread as though ready to leap, and her front hoof raised to her chest, shaking to add emphasis to her words. "All the world's secrets will be laid out before our hooves, the hooves of the genius sisters Starry and Jasmine! The frontiers of pony knowledge shall extend to the furthest reaches achievable by anypony brave enough to call themselves a scientist! This, the most noble and altruistic of pursuits, is our calling!"

Coming down from the soap box and back to earth, Starry struck a more humble chord, "Of course, that's what we hope to do. And I'm sure there's plenty of time for parties and cleaning and dressing up as pretty maids and making friends along the way!"

he watched with a small smile as the mare made what could only be classified as an epic speech. he looked back out the window as she sat down, and thought of what they might discover in the course of their lives.

" Well, i am sure even if there is no time for such things you two will do fine making time for it." he commented as he turned to look at star. " So, long as your research advances the art of magic then i am all up for it. Magic always works better if you understand the world around you. Of course it can be hindered by popular but poorly thought out theories. "

( in keeping with the half hour rule i posted again ^.^)