Chapter 1 – The New Job
“And you’re sure you’re fine with that, Darling?” Rarity asks. “I promise I won’t become jealous if you continue.”
Genuine warmth beams out through your smile, and you reach out to scratch her behind one of her ears. The first time you did that to Rarity, she had become irate, accusing you of treating her like some kind of petting zoo animal. However, you were persistent, and she grew to adore the small, intimate gesture.
“I’m totally fine with it,” You reply. “Working at the spa was great and all, but I think after three months, I’m ready for something new. Besides, I have my house now, and I have plenty of bits to keep me afloat until I have something more meaningful.”
You and Rarity are sitting in your living room. The furnishings are meager, but comfortable. Two sofas sit perpendicular from one another, and a small wooden coffee table rests between them like the melted cheese in a sandwich. There are a few rugs on the floor, a fire place against the right wall, and a staircase leading to your one bedroom towards the back. It’s not a big place, but it’s yours.
Well, yours and Rarity’s since she spends a lot of time here.
The air is saturated with pleasant floral scents, which is totally thanks to Rarity’s addition of the five vases filled with flowers. Every time one of the vases catches your eye, you snicker to yourself. Nothing in the house, which includes the house itself, matches the level of indulgence and expensive investment than those vases.
Rarity rises to her hooves. “So then shall we go take care of this now?”
You stand up to, and a deep sigh slithers past your lips. “Yeah, I guess. You think they are going to be really upset.”
Rarity’s mouth forms a thin line across her face. She nods solemnly. “Oh, they are going to be DEVASTATED.”
***
You walk out of the Ponyville Day Spa for what will be the last time in a long while, and you can’t help but wince and cringe. As the door closes, you can still hear the vigorous wailings of your former employers. Rarity is still inside, and despite her best efforts to console Aloe and Lotus, the white unicorn had been correct in her assessment of the impending devastation.
You walk down the road a little bit, and you stop on the edge of the market. That had been the plan, after all; you drop the heavy news and then leave while Rarity uses her smooth silver tongue to ease the pain.
A sudden voice makes you jump, and judging from the sound of the tone, this pony is none too happy to see you.
“Hello, Anon,” Twilight said with a flat demeanor.
An uneasy spasm of weirdness flaps inside your chest, and you give the alicorn princess a little bow. Ever since you and Rarity had started seeing each other more romantically, Twilight’s manner of addressing you had been chillier.
For the first two weeks of your relationship with Rarity, it had been kept secret. Despite that, Twilight knew. Be it though magical spying or intuition, she knew before any pony else. Slowly, the other mares in the group discovered the nature of the warmth between Rarity and yourself. Naturally, Starlight took it hardest.
“Good Morning, Princess,” you say, with all the sincerity you can muster.
She arches an eyebrow at you. “Where is Rarity? It’s often rare to see you so alone and unaccompanied.” The last few words drip with disapproval.
“Oh, she will be along soon,” You reply. “I just quit my job at the spa, and she is helping running damage control.”
For a long moment, Twilight just peered up at you. She sighed, shook her head, and then averted her eyes for a second. “I suppose that alleviates ‘one’ problem.”
“I beg your pardon, ma’am?” You ask.
She starts to move off, “Oh nothing. Have a nice day, Anon.”
Sudden urgency sweeps through you. You maneuver so you’re blocking her path. Twilight steps back and leans away from you, as if you had transformed into a manticore before her very eyes.
“Hold on,” you say. “Please Princess; I have to ask you something.”
Twilight’s eyes grow more suspicious, but she gives you the barest of all nodes.
“Okay, what do you want to ask me?” Twilight can perhaps already anticipate your question, but you ask it anyway.
You ask, “Why are you upset with me? I don’t understand what I did to piss you off.”
Twilight Sparkle glances about, and for the moment, no other pony is around. She rolls her tongue in her mouth for a second, and then she locks gazes with you.
“It’s not that I’m angry with you specifically, it’s the situation I’m not pleased with,” Twilight said.
“The situation?” You ask.
She opens her mouth to say more, but then she peeks past you.
“This is not a discussion to be had out in the open,” Twilight said. “Or right now for that matter. Come see me when you are alone, that is if you really want to know what is bothering me.”
Before you can respond, Rarity trots up to you and Twilight.
“Why, good morning Twilight. How are you today?”
Twilight’s smile is genuine and endearing. “Oh, I’m great! I just ran into Anon here. He told me he quit his job.”
Rarity nods, “Yes, he did. Now we’re off to go see Mayor Mare to inquire about any other open positions.”
Twilight smirked. “But isn’t today Wednesday?”
Rarity tilts her head. “Why, so it is. What does th-“Her eyes widen. “Oh no! I’m supposed to meet with Fluttershy for our… weekly….”
A pressurized lump appears in the base of your throat, but you can’t help but chuckle.
Twilight’s eyes sparkle with an increasing degree of smugness. “spa treatments?”
Rarity takes several back steps away from Anon. “I had totally forgotten. Oh dear, it is going to awkward in there today.” She glances at you. “Are you going to be alright by yourself?”
“I’m not a child,” you reply. “I’ll be fine.” You laugh for a moment. “Have fun.”
Rarity gives off an awkward giggle, and then runs back toward the spa.
Twilight and you watch her enter back into the spa.
“I don’t envy her at the moment, “Twilight says.
You rub the back of your head with your hand. “So is now a good time to have that talk?”
Twilight immediately replies, “No. If you’re really interested in talking about ‘that’, then I need to collect my thoughts. This isn’t some little instance we’re talking about. It’s actually serious.”
Sickening dread pulls down on the insides of your stomach. “Wow, I messed up that bad?”
“It’s not you, per say.” Twilight winces. “It’s the effects you’re causing on all my friends, and on the ponies I am sworn to protect.”
“The effects?” You ask.
An icy stillness has taken hold of you, and you wait with baited breath for her to elaborate.
“Like I said before,” Twilight says. “Not the place for such discussions. We’ll talk soon, okay?” She pauses. “And don’t think this is personal. I’m not mad at ‘you’. Okay? I still consider you a friend. And I know that you’re not purposely trying to do what I’m afraid you’re going to do.”
“And what’s that?”
Twilight just stares at you, and you nod.
“Right, not now,” you say.
“Sorry,” Twilight said. “It’s not something that can be or should be uttered in the vicinity of other ponies.” She starts to trot off again. “Good luck with Mayor Mare.”
“Thanks,” You reply as you make your way toward City Hall.
With each step, the curiosity for foreboding imagination within you festers all the more. What could be bothering Twilight so much that she needs to collect her thoughts to talk to you? What did you do? Or perhaps, did you not do something you shouldn’t have?
For now, you had to worry about getting a job. The turmoil nestling in Twilight Sparkle’s mind could wait for later.
***
Mayor Mare’s office is a discordant kingdom of paper stacks, scroll pyramids, and towers of books placed in various places in the room. As you opened the door to enter her office, she glances up at you from behind her desk.
Her mane is a wild jungle of mess and scruff, her eyes are more crimson than white, and her mouth is forming the barest hint of a whimper.
“Yes, what is it?” she asked in a panicked tone. “Don’t tell me there is ‘another’ problem.”
You swallow hard as you move into her office. It takes some effort to navigate through the broken ruins of a once proud book, scroll, and paper civilization.
“Um, no… I don’t think I have any problems for you,” you reply.
Mayor Mare wets her dry lips with her tongue. “So what do you want? You’re Anon, aren’t you?” she chuckles with an insane-like demeanor. “Oh course you are. Who else would you be?” her chuckles get a little more vibrant and edgy. “Oh Celestia, I am cracking.”
You smile at Mayor Mare. “D-do you need help, ma’am?”
And then suddenly, the brown mare gazes upon you, as if you had become an alicorn. “W-what did you say?” her voice resonates with both disbelief, and weepy relief. Even her eyes start to get teary.
“I asked if you needed any help,” you say. “I was looking for a new job, and I could help but notice you are swamped in paperwork. Do you need any help?”
Silence drifts between the both of you, and then Mayor Mare starts cackling in ludicrous delight.
“Thank you, Celestia!” She leaps over her desk and lands in front of you, expertly avoiding knocking over any of the past remnants of the great book, scroll, and paper empire. “I would LOVE some help.” She bats her eyes at you. “Do you have any experience with event planning and coordination?”
“Event planning?” You ask. “And coordination?”
She nods.
“Um… no, not really.”
“Oh.” Her bluster is diminished for only a second. “Would you like to gain some invaluable experience with event planning and coordination?”
A grin spreads across your cheeks. “Sure, I’m always ready to learn new things.”
Faster than Rainbow Dash could muster, Mayor Mare zips around her office and collects several scrolls. Before you know it, you have three of them resting in your hands.
Mayor Mare gestures to each of the scrolls. “Great! Thank you. I am going to hire you as an assistant event planner in training then. These three scrolls outline tasks I need to have completed for the upcoming Creative Spark Festival.”
“The Creative Spark Festival?” You ask. “Oh yeah, Rarity has been in such a tizzy about preparing for some event.”
“Yes,” Mayor Mare replies. “I need you to confirm the food vendors, the entertainment and music, and lastly, fashion designers. I was so stressed out because I thought I would have to do this alone, but with you…” she stands taller. “It’s more manageable.”
“Great!” you say. “Where should I start?”
Mayor Mare waves you off with a hoof. “Oh it doesn’t matter. Just make sure all gets done. We’ll meet in five days to do last minute preparations for the festival.” She pauses. “Is it okay if I pay you after the festival?”
“That’s fine.” You smile. “If you don’t mind me asking, how much are we talking about?”
Mayor Mare pauses for a moment, and she rubs her chin with her hoof. “Let’s say… five hundred bits. Does that sound fair?”
Your chest starts fluttering with the lightness of a hot air balloon. “That sounds great.”
“Wonderful,” she replies. She ushers you out of the office. “Now, off with you. The festival is fast approaching.”
You leave Mayor Mare’s office, and you walk outside to a certain bridge that overlooks a small pond. It is such a beautiful day outside, and the sky is so blue and inviting. A few clouds hang here and there, but for the most part, it is the perfect ratio of sky and nimbus.
“500 bits,” you murmur. “That’s not bad.”
You look at the little labels for each of the scrolls. They say ‘entertainment’, ‘food,’ and ‘fashion’.
“Well, let’s get started then.”
You open the entertainment scroll.
“Okay, the first thing on the list is…” you pause for a moment. “Book the stage magician.”
Coming soon…. Chapter 2 – A Stage Magician's Delight