A Helping Hoof

Artist Note: Well, crap. I was supposed to be doodling random ponies, and I accidentally gave them names, backstories, planned out the entire plot of how they met and everything and now I don't have time to actually do anything with it. You will probably see more of these two in the future than you'd actually care to. Seriously - this story just wrote itself.

Eugenia is Celestia's administrative assistant. She's overworked, tired of dealing with the princess's lazy butt (so she raises the sun, SO WHAT), and she's lately taken to escaping to a dive bar on the way home from the palace to try and escape the stressors of the day. Thanks to the vagueness of her cutie mark, she never found her passion, never really knew what to pursue or how to pursue it, and now waits desperately for a change to come and affect her life.

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Eugenia tinkered with a hoofful of coins from her corner stool at the bar. "Most ponies," she grumbled, "at least have the privilege of forgetting about work at the end of the day. I can't even spend two bits without looking at my boss's face."

She normally internalized her frustrations, but after the day she'd had and the volume of cider she'd downed to forget it, she felt chatty. 

"Why don't you tell me about it," a sultry voice startled her from her trance. There was a blue-tinged mare sitting across the bar from her, her gold eyes gleaming in the dim light.  She seemed a little on the tall side, but Eugenia was too intoxicated and distracted to really notice.

With a sigh, Eugenia launched into a tirade that started with the chaotic events of the day, and escalated from topic to topic until she had practically explained her entire sad life story. Her lone audience member listened intently, smiling across (and slightly down) at her the entire time. 

By the time Eugenia had finished talking, she'd begun to sober up a little, and suddenly realized with a wave of embarrassment that she had just dropped all of her woes on a total stranger. Hurriedly, and on shaky hooves, she apologized and turned to leave.

Before she could take another step, she felt a hoof on her shoulder. An extremely large hoof.

"Wait."

The gentle murmur of the pub dropped to silence as her companion stood up. Reaching all the way from floor to ceiling (and then some) of the somewhat spacious establishment, it became clear that the only reason this pony had been able to conceal her massive scale at all was because she had been lounging on the floor, with the majority of her size obscured behind the bar.

"Let me walk you home. We can... talk more." Eugenia felt the gentle weight of the hoof shift left and right across her shoulders and back. Her face grew red.

"But I... You don't even really know my name, I just- we just met," she stammered out. Her brain was full of cotton, and frantically she tried to will herself through the alcohol-induced fog.

"I'm Morning Glory. And you," the hoof lifted from Eugenia's back, "need to relax."

The amazonic pony smiled down and cantered past her. 

More than anything, Eugenia wanted change. She wanted something or somepony to rush in and shatter the monotonous cycle that had become her day-to-day life. She swallowed hard and took an unsteady step toward the door.

Maybe it was the cider, or maybe she had just had enough - but as she stepped through the door following her enormous companion, she thought 'Maybe, just maybe, Morning Glory is that change'. 

The door closed behind her, and the dull roar of the establishment resumed.