Chapter 1
"Bronze, we need a dozen chocolate frosted donuts, stat!" There's my boss, Doughnut Joe. Someponies call him Pony Joe, but what do I care. He is always in a rush to get things done, or so it seems. I, on the other hand, used to be an exceeding student in the Canterlot School for Magic, where all gifted students go. I met wonderful ponies there, including the Element of Magic. Anyways, one day I found myself in a little doughnut shop in the edge of the city. Doughnut Joe came up to me, and gave me a welcoming smile. I was a blank flank by then, my parents thinking that I'd be a wonderful sorcerer or something like that. He gave me a free doughnut. I thanked him for it, and fled the shop. While outside, I noticed a "HELP WANTED" sign. The doughnut shop didn't even seem that busy at the time, and considering I was low on cash to continue my studies, I took the job. Walking back in the shop gave Joe a sense of optimism, or so it appeared. I asked what the job offering was about, and he responded that it was because he was going through nights without any sleep. He needed an employee to help run the shop while he was resting and doing other things. I took the job offering, and he showed me the ropes. He showed me how to create a doughnuts, and he showed me the decorating machine. Pretty simple actually, for there were three stations. The first station were where the frosted doughnuts go, the second were the plain doughnuts, and the third were for the powdered ones. Each station has a system of levers, and when you pushed one down, it would create a side path for the doughnuts to skip a section of the station. Eventually, I got the system, and carried on his job. He left the shop, and I began working on the doughnuts. To my surprise, a customer came in a few short minutes. She ordered her doughnuts, and exited the store. Beginning the machine was the easy part, actually working is was the hard part. In about fifteen minutes, the doughnuts were done, and I called the lady to come and retrieve them. She came, and examined the first-timer doughnuts. She took note about the amount of frosting and sprinkles I put on them, and she said that they were divine. She grabbed her box, and left the store, leaving a smile on my face. I kept doing this for the next few hours, until Joe returned. When he came in, there was a line of about twenty ponies right in front of him. The guy at the end of the line shouted for him to stay in his position. He stepped out of line, and walked to the front. He saw me in the front, taking orders, making doughnuts, delivering them, and repeating the cycle twenty times over. He was very impressed, so he gave me the job. Right then, I retrieved my doughnut cutie mark. I was only eight at the time, meaning that I have been working for Joe for five years. Now, we leave my back story, and return to the modern time.
"Yes sir, right away sir!" I replied.
"Don't 'yes sir' me, just do it!" he hollered. I ignored him, and proceeded to the machine. I turned it on, and put the doughnuts on the first station. Unfortunately, the system had a meltdown and shut off.
"Ugh oh!" I panicked.
"Bronze, what's going on in there!?"
"Nothing sir! C'mon you stupid thing, work already!" I quietly whispered that last part. Joe ran in, and started to scream at me. "Bronze! What did you do!?"
"I don't know sir! It ju-"
"Just take orders Bronze!" he yelled at me. I quickly dashed towards the front, where a bunch of irritable ponies were screaming out orders. The bad thing is that all the ponies wanted something different, something unique. One order could be plain chocolate and the next be a vanilla scented doughnut with cyan frosting. It was very frustrating and annoying. So many orders were made, that Joe eventually closed the shop for the night. Just that night alone, we made about three-thousand bits, and a dozen doughnuts cost five bits. We slammed the door, and took a breather.
"Wow boss, that was tiring!"
"Sure is."
"I'm really sorry for earlier, ya know, malfunctioning the machine." I suddenly blurted out.
"You should be, that cost about a thousand bits to build."
"Yes sir."
"Stop calling me 'sir'."
"I'm sorry, boss."
"That's your deal, your way to nice. If you want to make it in the doughnut business, you've got to have an iron fist."
"Um...okay."
"Louder!" he hollered.
"Okay!"
"Louder!!"
"Okay!!"
"Louder!!!"
"Okay!!!" He gave me a nod of satisfaction, but I didn't like it. Having to yell at your customers is something that I'm not cut out for, even if I have to quit. "Hey boss!"
"Attaboy! Anyways, what do you want?"
"What if I don't want to yell at our customers?"
"Then, I don't know what to tell you! If that's how you feel, you ought to get outta here. If not, stay." Five years of service and this is how he treats me.
"Fine! I'm going to leave!" I looked at him in disgust. While walking up to the front door, Joe stopped me.
"If you leave out of that door, I'm warning ya, don't you dare look back!"
"Wasn't planning on it!" I shrieked back as I left the shop. What I did there was basically abandon my reason for existence, my special talent. I need to go and work in another doughnut shop, but where could I go? While walking down town, I overheard some ponies talking about a train leaving to another town. That's it! I just need to go and live in another city! I knew where the train station was, so I might as well get on it. I trotted across town to reach the station. I got there, and they signaled the last ponies to get on the train. I got on, and went to the back car. There, I sat down on the couch, and waited impatiently to get to my blind city.