//------------------------------//
// First Day At Work 
// Story: Love's Sunrise 
// by SilverHoof1 
//------------------------------//


I hummed quietly to myself, trotting happily to the spa for my first day of work. It was the next day, and me and Riptide had spent the whole day celebrating, and had even invited Tsunami and Sky bramble over. We had cake and all played hoofalo 4, which I managed to beat everyone at. The first thing I had done when I first got my own house was practice hoofalo 4 after buying a horse-box, which in my opinion is a silly name for it. Every time one of them turned around a corner I was already waiting, laying down in a sniper pose with and got a headshot.

They kept accusing me of looking at their screens, but actually I had just gotten a skill on my character that if turned on it let me see through walls and made players glow bright red. Heck, it made things all too easy. I had decided to customize the armor on my pony the same as onyx leaf, who had for some reason become the little pony in my head, and equiped my skills and weapons. You would be surprised how far it can get you just to be able to always see your opponent. The suckers didn’t even get me once. Not to brag or anything.

One of the rounds was pretty funny too. The fun thing about the horse-box is that it was magic infused, just like the vr and teleported us into the game. It luckily didn’t have pain simulators, and to click things in the main screen there was a giant hologram infront of us so we could customize and everything. I had to admit it was fun, but some were the best.

I was looking around inside my armor, tracking Riptide with my skill as he explored the whole top floor of the building we were in. There were other skills, like sending out a hologram for like sneak attacks, but that was good for more like using a shotgun. Getting caught in though I wondered how a rocket launcher would work if used with a stealth kit. In my head, I saw onyx slowly sneaking up behind Riptide invisible, then screaming “SURPRISE ATTACK!” and suddenly firing off a rocket launcher. The thought in my head made me giggle, and I didn’t notice as bramble snuck up on me, slowly and carefully.

My ability let me see people invisible, but I wasn’t paying attention so I couldn’t see him. Then suddenly I heard “SURPRISE ATTACK!” from behind me making me whirl around to see bramble infront of me, aiming a rocket launcher. Crap, I thought I was the only one who had that idea. He shot the rocket, and I watched in slow motion as it came right for me, zooming through the air right for me. Then I just stepped to the right and the missle went flying down the hallway, exploding at the end leaving me and Bramble staring at each other.

“Uhm.. can we try and redo that?” he asked sheepishly, only to be forced to respawn as I pushed a hoof against the trigger and fired a shot into his head. As I laughed it bounced off the walls and echoed around, and I could see Riptide turning in confused circles, trying to pinpoint it. I was crying inside my suit from laughter, and I eventualy finished laughing. My sides hurt, even in game when I shouldn’t feel pain. Riptide finally found out where the laughing was coming from and charged, to be finished off with a shot between the eyes.

I felt bad for him, buuut that normally went away when someone else came careening down the hallway for me. Since that point the only one who tried to sneak up on me was bramble, and he did get me once. ONCE. I grumbled afterwards when he bragged about it like he won the lottery. I knew it had been hard to kill me, but still there was a gloat limit. Everyone else acted like he was a legend, and I switched to poison bullets, just for the thought.

After that we had all played random board games and just hung out.  Eventually they both had to go home, so me and Riptide also decided to tuck in for the night. Then here we were to the present, me deciding to go to work early and try to start with a good first impression. I wore business casual, or in other words my skin suit, because I thought it would go well with the whole spa thing. I hoped if I was good enough me and Riptide could get free trips to the spa.

It took a little while, but eventualy I got to the spa and walked through the door, the scents of balms and warm water filling my nose. I took a deep breathe, and sighed happily, opening my eyes and going to the pony at the front desk, who was currently spring waters. She looked at me and smiled, waving a hoof at me to join her behind the counter. After a second of looking for the entrance, I walked in, in which she gave me a quick paper for me to sign. I glanced, and saw it was mostly just things to keep the spa out of trouble if I got hurt or something.

I signed it, and she took the paper from me and nodded. “You will mostly be doing special treatment’s for people who want more privacy and steam,” she said, and followed up with “You will get 5 dollars an hour,”

“Alright, sounds fair,” I conceded, and prepared for work. I didn’t have to prepare much, considering my position, but still. I fluffed up my mane a bit and checked over to make sure my suit was fine, then simply waited next to spring. While there she told me how much I would enjoy this job, and how nice it is too see couples relaxing together. To be honest it did sound pretty nice, and if I could help people relax it made it even better.

As soon as the doors opened I saw a couple walk in, and I could feel the pony in my head gawk at them a bit. It was a zebra mare, her black and white stripes looking glossy in the light and her eyes a brilliant blue, her mane done so it was covering the right side of her head, like a side mane style. Her mate was a unicorn buck, his coat a deep purple and his eyes shinned green beneath a black and green mane. They looked like a good couple, and I smiled as I heard them tell spring they would like an extra private room and missage. I held out a hoof to the mare and smiled a genuine and sweet smile saying, “Hi i’m Mist Sunrise, i’ll be helping you today,”

“Why thank you, my name is Marigold,” the zebra said smiling, taking my hoof and shaking it.

“My name is Lime licorice,” the buck said taking my hoof next and shaking, smiling.

“Nice to meet you both, i’ll show you to a room where you can relax,” I said, and walked away, noting the hoofsteps as they followed me. A minute later I showed them to their room, smiling as they walked in. I followed in behind them, which seemed to surprise them. “We asked for it extra private,” Marigold said, seeming puzzled .

“I know, and i’m going to help it be private,” I said, and smiled adding, “and don’t worry, if your planning on doing anything a little frisky,” I teased, and they both blushed. I nodded, and mist began to fill the room, turning into steam as it combined with the hot air, and I smiled even more as I saw both of them visibly relax. “After my work shift want to maybe come over to my house and relax as well?” I asked, and they nodded. I went over and sat down in a corner, sighing happily as I heard the water splash as they entered, and closed my eyes to relax. I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to do much considering what they were soon going to do, but eh. I would take the rest while I could.

It was the second job I had taken today, around 2 hours after the first one. This time I could immediatly sense the tension between the two, and decided to make things quick. I could tell this was probably something they decided to do after a long argument, and although I hoped it would help I didn’t want to know what was wrong. Plus I don’t think they would have wanted me to ask anyway. As soon as we got into the room I started up the mist, and they looked at me, seeming surprised but not hostile. “I’m here to provide the extra alone time,” I said, a small smile on my lips as I settled in my corner.

I didn’t have too many more after that, and most of them seemed tense, some even downright hostile. There was one other couple that was actually friendly, but they were having such a good time I didn’t want to bother them. At the end of the day though I did enjoy helping people, and everyone I helped went out relaxed and calm. Plus, I knew if I ever wasn’t happy Riptide would make me happy. I smiled at the thought, and walked out the door, prepared and ready for the rest of the day with Riptide.