Shining Facade woke up in his king-sized bed, his head pounding from clubbing, both dancing in the club and picking fights with the more rowdy patrons, from the night before. While the bed was still as comfortable and as silky smooth as always, it smelt like a mix of urine, bourbon, and cheap cologne.
Meh, it's not like she would mind Facade thought to himself I'm sure the little brat she likes made more of a mess than I did.
Facade got up off the bed and stretched his legs. While trotting to the bathroom would prove to be a challenge, he had dealt with worse hangovers. After some trial-and-error, he had managed to drag himself to the toilet, sat down, and did his business. In spite of his fondness for alcohol and other drugs, Facade had always believed in taking care of himself. It was why he never had a lasting relationship with any mare in his life up until Cozy Brocade. Not that Facade would blame Brocade for sticking around because he is the most handsome and most successful stallion Equestria had ever seen while Brocade, despite her unwavering beauty, is a neurotic mess. Due to his face being a little puffy, no doubt after a few blows to the head from the night before, Facade got up from the toilet, trotted downstairs to the fridge, pulled out an ice mask, and put in on so he could do his morning stomach crunches in his bedroom. On a good day, he could go as high as a thousand.
Facade lied down on the floor of his bed, exhausted from his morning exercise. Given how he had managed to perform at least eight hundred and sixty-three this morning, he considered the rest to be well-earned. After all, he did get into a fight with some hoodlums last night. If that didn't count as exercise, he wasn't sure what would. When his muscles stopped aching, he trotted back to the bathroom and gave himself a nice warm shower. Anything to get the stench of sweat and booze out of his nose. Turning on the shower, he removed his ice mask and rubbed a deep pore cleanser potion onto himself and a water-activated gel cleanser before finishing off with a honey almond body scrub. If there was one thing he was thankful for regarding his wife's unending presence, besides getting to stare at a flank most ponies could only dream of, it's her taste in shower gels and shampoos. Would explain why her mane is so silky smooth.
After spending ten minutes in the shower, Facade trotted out and dried off in a His and Hers towel. More specifically, he was using the His towel. Another good choice his otherwise expendable but annoyingly persistent wife made. Last thing he wanted was to catch a disease from using her towel by mistake. Finished drying off, he trotted towards the medicine cabinet. The reflective surface of the medicine cabinet gave him a generous view of his extraordinarily handsome face and chiselled features. He opened the cabinet to get a bottle of moisturizer, some anti-ageing eye balm followed by a moisturization protection lotion. After applying all those things to his wonderful face, he looked at the gorgeous view in the closed medicine cabinet. While he is as good-looking as his wife, if not more so, his scarlet red eyes had little to no emotion to them. A cold stare greeting a cold stare. To everypony else, there is an idea of a Shining Facade. Some sort of abstraction. But to Facade, there is no real him. Only an illusory entity that a stage magician would conjure. While he could hide his cold gaze with his designer sunglasses, and ponies could shake his hoof and feel bone touching theirs and even get the idea of a possibly comparative lifestyle, he is simply not there.
Facade trotted out of the house, annoyed that Brocade would not consider his idea. Why wouldn't she consider his idea? He knows what ponies want. He wouldn't have made it as an entrepreneur if he didn't know what they wanted. If she did take his idea, maybe she would have written a successful best-selling novel and maybe, just maybe, pay for her own things as well as the things that little parasite he called a filly would want. He never wanted a foal. In fact, he never wanted a family to begin with. The only reason he let them stick around is because it's good for PR and because Brocade is a fine-looking mare that, when he hadn't been drinking, he got to look at every morning. It was ambrosia for the eyes. He made his way towards the flea market near town, levitating a suitcase full of golden watches that he hoped would sell. Granted, he couldn't expect to be sold out instantaneously due to the extremely high price of the watches but he was certain that somepony would be more than willing to buy at least one. Without warning, he bumped into another stallion.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" Facade shouted.
"Sorry, that's my bad," the stallion said to Facade "I was kinda distracted."
As the two were talking, a mare with a statue-esque stature trotted passed them, with the stallion Facade bumped into staring at her legs and drooling. It did not take long for Facade to know what this potential customer was so distracted by.
"Don't worry, buddy," Facade said in a casual tone, "I think I got just the thing for you."
Facade opened the suitcase and, along with the gold gleaming watches, were pictures of Brocade's hoof wearing one of the watches. The stallion stared at the picture, absolutely entranced.
"Like the picture?" Facade said, "That hoof there belongs to my wife and, trust me when I say this, she is stunning."
"Can I have the picture?" the stallion asked.
"Not without buying one of these watches, you can't," Facade replied as he gestured towards the watches.
"How much?"
"Ten thousand bits. Expensive, I know but, since I like you, I'm gonna let you see my wife herself as well as keep the picture. Sound good?"
The stallion pondered on Facade's offer then reluctantly went in for his wallet, hoping there would be enough bits to cover the cost of the watch.
"What time would you like me to visit?" the stallion asked.
"Does eight o'clock sound good?"
"Sure. I ain't doing anything at that time."
"Perfect."
The stallion emptied whatever bits he could in front of Facade.
"Uh...any chance I could pay you when I visit you?"
"As long as you remember to bring the money."
Facade turned over the picture to reveal it has his address written on the back.
"Here's my address. Hope to see you by eight."