Fluttershy busies herself in her kitchen, preparing a modest salad of lettuce, tomatoes, and carrots. A few cucumbers lay on the counter, waiting to be sliced and added in. She hums merrily to herself, a few of her animal friends hopping through the open window and joining in. She smiles at each of them, offering a piece of lettuce or bit of bird seed. She continues bustling about before a knock at the wall signal her parents' arrival. Fluttershy looks towards her front door, seeing her parents standing there. She moves over, hugging her mom and dad.
Mr. Shy, a green coated pegasus with a pink mane and mustache, says in a quiet voice, "Oh, Fluttershy, it's so good to see you! I hope you have been doing well?"
Fluttershy nods, "Oh, yes, I've been doing very well. Doug has been helping out outside the house, helping me prepare some of the houses for my animal friends."
Mrs. Shy, an amber coated pegasus with a raspberry colored mane, moves over, inspecting one of the wooden bird houses that is still in progress. "This is very well crafted. Does he work with his hooves much?"
Fluttershy smiles, "Oh, yes, he does. But, he doesn't call his hooves, um, hooves, he calls them hands." She nods shyly as her parents look between each other.
Mrs. Shy says, "Oh, I remember, you said he was a human. Is there anything else we should know before he gets here?"
Fluttershy holds a hoof to her chin while looking up, "Hmm. Well, he's tall, but he tries to get down on our level, especially once we're eating or talking. He doesn't have fur, just very thin hair on most of his body. It's normal for humans, he isn't sick or have any conditions." Fluttershy pauses, thinking again, "He's really nice. He'll try to make you feel comfortable."
Mrs. Shy nods as they make their way into the kitchen. She takes off her saddlebags, pulling out a large orange jello and a large lime jello. She moves over to the cabinets, pulling out four plates and glasses. She looks over the food Fluttershy has prepared, remarking, "Oh, this looks lovely. It was one of your favorite meals when you were little."
Fluttershy nods, taking the salad and dividing it among the plates. She sets the extra in the middle of the table as her dad sits down. He looks over the food, "Yes, I remember when our little Flutter loved to take care of her little brother just like she takes care of the animals now." He smiles, holding out a piece of lettuce to one of the squirrels that has made its way close to him.
Fluttershy grins, "Yes, he certainly liked it when I took care of him. He is, what, in flight school now?"
Mrs. Shy shakes her head, "No, he is in the last year of the Junior Flappers. He hasn't shown interest in working at the factory like your father, we aren't sure what he'll end up doing."
Heavy footsteps outside on the porch signal Doug's arrival. Mrs. Shy takes a seat at the table as Fluttershy moves to the front door. Doug walks through the still open doorway, shutting the door behind him as he waves to Fluttershy. She flutters over to him and he wraps his arm around her, pulling her in close for a kiss. Fluttershy blushes, the scene visible from the kitchen, as he releases her and makes his way towards the dining table.
Fluttershy follows behind him as Doug introduces himself, "Hello, you probably can guess, but I'm Doug. It's nice to meet you!"
Mrs. Shy still has a grin on her face from watching their earlier antics as Mr. Shy quietly responds, "Oh, it's nice to meet you too. I'm Mr. Shy, and this is my lead, Mrs. Shy."
Doug sits down at the table as Fluttershy brings glasses of water for each of them. She takes her own seat, each pony starting to dig into their food. Doug asks, "So, Mr. Shy, Fluttershy tells me that you work at the weather factory."
Mr. Shy nods, "Yes, I'm one of the crew chiefs. Been working there ever since I got my cutie mark. Only nine more years until I'm able to retire, but not like I'm counting the days, right?"
Doug laughs, "Yeah, I know the feeling. Some days when I'm working at Applejack's I can't wait till the day is over. So, crew chief, that sounds pretty high up?"
Mr. Shy shrugs, "Well, it's about the middle of the pack. I used to be a cloud jockey, on the floor moving clouds from one section of the factory to the other. Now I'm the supervisor, running quality control and making sure those misfits are doing what they are supposed to."
Mrs. Shy rolls her eyes as Fluttershy listens, a smile on her face. Each mare continues nibbling on their food as Doug says, "Heh, at least you know all their tricks, right?"
Mr. Shy quietly laughs, "Well, you have to let them get away with a little, you know?"
Mrs. Shy quips, "Well, they have a lot of requests, too. And some of them are just worried, so it's understandable."
Doug raises an eyebrow, "Oh? What are they worried about?"
Mr. Shy hesitates, "Well, it's just rumors is all."
Mrs. Shy shakes her head, "They seem pretty worried for it just being rumors. Don't you think you could reassure them a little? Many of them are so young, just graduated from flight school."
Mr. Shy frowns, "Well, that's the thing, I don't know if I can reassure them. There's been talk among the supervisors..." he trails off, looking at Doug. "Oh, I'm sorry, I don't want to bring this up, you aren't interested in it."
Doug moves forward in his chair, "Oh, actually, I'm very interested, I do quite a bit of weather work with Rainbow. What are they worried about?"
Mr. Shy looks over to Mrs. Shy before continuing, "Well, the floor supervisors have gotten word from above that there might be some cutbacks. Apparently there's this new weather scheduler, she's thrown a lot of parts out of balance. We had a careful equilibrium set up: how much water we needed to collect, how many clouds we made, and getting those clouds delivered."
Mrs. Shy looks a little worried as Mr. Shy's voice gets louder, almost to a normal speaking volume as his rant continues, "With this new scheduler, there are fewer requests for clouds during the year. This means we need less ponies working on making the clouds; there has even been talk about shutting down one of the wings in the factory for next fall and maybe winter. Then, we also need less ponies delivering the clouds, so what am I going to tell the ponies left over? 'Sorry, come back next week, maybe we'll have work for you then?' These are ponies just starting out, they have herds, young foals, and what am I supposed to say?"
Doug manages to keep a straight face as Mr. Shy shakes his head, looking down at the floor as he gathers himself. He looks back up at Doug, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to unload all that on you. It's just been so incredibly frustrating, with all the uncertainty, and nopony knows what will happen. I've been afraid I was going to explode like that all week, and now I've gone and done it."
Doug shakes his head, trying to keep the worry off his face. He hasn't really considered how his weather scheduling would affect the pegasi that performed many of the weather duties. He just figures that it is more efficient, therefore better. He tentatively asks, "So, what would happen if they did have to let a couple pegasi go?"
Mr. Shy frowns, "You mean fire them? Well, hopefully it never comes to that, I would hate to be the pony handing out moon slips or figuring out who is least suited to weather work."
Doug moves a hand to his chin, "Or, the ponies best suited for work outside weather? That does sound like a pretty unsettling job. Could they have some sort of, I don't know, voluntary program to reduce how many ponies are working? Some incentive for them, or assistance locating new jobs and retraining to work them?"
Mr. Shy puts a hoof to his jaw, mirroring Doug, "Huh, those are good points. You done this sort of thing before?"
Doug shrugs, "Nah, but humans are way more used to turnover. We don't have cutie marks, so there is a lot of effort put into training for a job and then, when you are finished with that one, training for a new job. Especially in areas where there is a lot of change, things getting obsoleted. You might have a whole sector that is no longer needed, and everything that was involved in that needs to be repurposed or thrown out."
Mr. Shy leans forward in his chair; Mrs. Shy puts a hoof on his back but he continues, "Well, but this is ponies lives and livelihoods we are talking about! We can't just go to the factory floor and say, "You fifteen ponies, you no longer work here, have a nice day!"
Doug nods, "Of course, that would be despicable, and avoided if at all possible. If this... new method of weather scheduling continues, or takes off, it sounds like there does need to be something in place, if only to make sure no ponies fall through the cracks."
Mr. Shy slowly nods, moving back in his chair. He looks at his empty plate, then to the bathroom. "Well, excuse me just a minute, nature calls." He winks at Fluttershy as Mrs. Shy excuses herself from the room as well.
Fluttershy gives Doug a serious look, "That went... well. Although," she hesitates before taking a deep breath, "I don't like how you lied to my parents."
Doug raises an eyebrow, "I don't think I did? If you mean hiding that I am the weather scheduler that is disrupting everything? What am I going to say? Plus, it gives me insight into how my plans are affecting things without them worrying about hurting my feelings."
Fluttershy shakes her head, "No, that's just you rationalizing, not wanting to bring in more conflict. Doug, they need to know, you shouldn't keep this sort of thing from them."
Doug sighs, "Well, let it never be said that I don't listen to my mares." He moves over, giving Fluttershy a kiss as Mr. and Mrs. Shy walk back into the room.
Mr. Shy pauses as Mrs. Shy gives a small laugh, "Oh, we leave you two lovebirds alone for one minute? Oh, to be young again."
She looks over to Mr. Shy, batting her eyelids. He laughs, shaking his head, "Oh, don't try that on me again, I think six is plenty for me." He looks over at Doug, who is looking at him with a serious face, "Well, you look like you have something to say." He sits back down at his chair, thanking Fluttershy as she refills his plate.
Doug nods, "Well, Fluttershy is certainly good at a lot of things." He takes a deep breath, "So, I have a confession to make. That weather scheduler who is throwing a wrench in things? That's me."
A flash of anger comes over Mr. Shy's face before it disappears. He shakes his head, "No, can't be. It's a pegasus."
Doug nods, "Cold Digger. Yep, a pen name that Rainbow coined. I want to say, I'm sorry for how my different techniques are disrupting operations on your end. I never intended to hurt the weather ponies, merely to make things more efficient. Maybe you are the right pony to talk to, maybe you aren't, but I do have some ideas as to how to make their transition, if there is one, easier on everypony involved."
Mr. Shy huffs, "Well, maybe that works for humans, but I don't think many pegasi will fly at the opportunity to stop doing what they love. I mean, my gals on the floor, what am I going to tell them when they don't have a slot next week to fly clouds?"
Doug shrugs, "Well, off the top of my head, don't pay them per cloud or per cloud run. Let's say you were running with twenty cloud runners, and you only need fifteen. Write up a four day schedule, each pony makes three of the four runs, and pay them all as if they did four runs. Management won't be happy about not seeing any reduction in pay, but you can deal with them. Meanwhile everypony still makes what they were making before, and have a day off to figure out if they want to do cloud runs. Maybe they can train for being a weather pony somewhere else, or they have a different dream they want to pursue. Or just more free time to spend with their families."
Fluttershy grins as Mr. Shy considers what Doug proposed. She moves over, sitting in Doug's lap as she says, "Wow, Dad, I don't think I've ever seen you so worked up about something."
Mrs. Shy remarks, "Well, I think he's a lot like you, honey; he gets worked up when it's about the things he cares about. You don't see him complaining when his bosses making him work overtime on our anniversary."
Doug adds in, "Heh, that's our Fluttershy. She's the meekest little pegasus out there, but if she sees an injured animal, she transforms into something else."
Fluttershy smiles, partially hiding behind her mane as Doug rubs her back. Mr. Shy looks over, "Well, maybe it won't be as bad as some of those gals make it out to be, right?"
Mrs. Shy adds, looking at Doug, "Hey, maybe you could stand up to those weather ponies? It's always so tough for Dad to, Fluttershy has always been the bold one among us."
Doug laughs, "Well, today has made that a little hard to believe. But, I think I can help you create a proposal, try to save as many jobs as you can. We could even flesh out a couple of the other options. It would be good to have a counter proposal, in case they don't want to keep extra ponies on."
Doug stands, carrying a surprised Fluttershy to the couch. He sets her down, tussling her mane before gathering some paper, a pencil, and a book to write on. He moves back to the couch, sliding himself so Fluttershy is laying across his lap. He looks over to Mr. Shy, who has an amused look on his face, asking, "So, where would you want to begin?"