//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Looking for Work in all the Wrong Places // Story: Farmers and Swindlers, Friendship and Pain // by Wunderbrony //------------------------------// Chapter 5: Looking for Work in all the Wrong Places Rarity lay prostrated on Twilight’s sofa, her meticulously styled purple mane a ruin from her lamentations. She was presently bawling her eyes out and kicking her rear hooves. One can imagine the surprise Twilight Sparkle felt when she opened the door to her home to find a distraught diva in her living room. Twilight let the books she had been carrying home drop to the floor (gently of course) and hurried over to her friend. “Why, Rarity, what’s the matter? Are you hurt? What’s wrong?” Twilight looked her friend all over but could find no physical injury. “Its...the..worst...possible...thing...ever!” Rarity gasped out between sobs. She rolled to her side and faced Twilight, her eyes teary and overflowing. “I have lost my shop Twilight! Everything I have every worked for! My occupation, my very existence! All gone!” She flung her head back again and wailed. “But...what happened? How did you lose Carousel Boutique?” When all Twilight received in answer was sobs, she decided she had better wait out the storm before expecting any coherent answers. Once Rarity was sufficiently calmed down, her white body only occasionally heaving in post-sob gasps, Twilight asked her question again. “Well, what else, Twilight? Those Flim Flams! Their dastardly machine can sew dresses now, and I simply cannot keep up! Everypony in this whole town has decided that quick, crass and shabby is the way of the future, and not a single one of my elegant, hoof-made dresses has been sold in ages!” “But Rarity, what about all your high end clients? What about the rock stars and the fashionistas? Won’t they want beautiful, hoof-made clothing?” Rarity glowered at a wall in the library, not meeting Twilight’s gaze. “You think that nasty machine can’t make pretty dresses too? I tell you Twilight, I thought it was simply dreadful when Applejack lost her job, but now things are a hundred times worse!” “Well, couldn’t you get a job in the factory? Surely your magic and talents with sewing could be put to good use?” “HAH!” Rarity scoffed. “Me? Work in a factory? With the common riffraff? Not likely, dear. No, I fear I must move somewhere sophisticated, like Canterlot, where the ponies still appreciate finery that isn’t produced by some dirty, greasy old machine!” “Oh, no, Rarity, not you too! You can’t move away!” Twilight grabbed Rarity’s hoof in her own, terribly distressed that another of her best friends would move away. “Well, what can I do, Twilight? I have no work here! And it is not as Canterlot is so far away...we go there all the time on day trips!” “Well, I guess you have a point...But will you promise to come back if you can get work here?” Rarity looked Twilight in the eyes and replied in a sardonic voice, “Hun, the only way I will get work back around here is if those Flim Flams pack up their filthy machines and put Ponyville to their backs.” Rarity, having composed herself enough to to consider being seen in public, thanked Twilight Sparkle for her hospitality (forgetting that it was not voluntary) and bid her farewell. For a long time after Rarity left, Twilight sat thinking about the last thing Rarity said to her before she left. Twilight sat until Rarity’s tears were dried on the couch, and the sun was almost done. At that point, Spike returned home from the errand he had been running for Twilight, and she shook herself out of her reverie to talk with him. Fluttershy was flying slowly and at a low altitude over Ponyville. She was enjoying the evening air, and with not a cloud in the sky, the coming sunset was simply gorgeous. She was so distracted admiring it, she did not see Derpy the mail pony go whizzing by in a haphazard mode of locomotion that could only loosely be described as “flying”. Flutttershy let out a squeal and dropped to the ground, taking cover instinctively until she realised it was just the stony grey pegasus with the unique eye condition. Applejack and Rarity have both lost their jobs, but Derpy seems to be doing fine. I guess the mail services can’t be done by machine, Fluttershy thought to herself. She was still reeling a little bit from the news that Twilight had told her regarding Rarity, but she had more important business right now, business that took her to Sugarcube Corner. Mr. and Mrs. Beaver were having a baby! Mr. and Mrs. Beaver had been expecting for months, and the baby would be arriving soon. Fluttershy of course would be there to help deliver the beaver pup, but before her skills as a midwife were needed, she wanted to pick up a specially made cake from Pinkie Pie to celebrate the occasion. It was to be made of all sorts of plants and nutritional grains, with an organic frosting, all designed to be delicious and nutritious for the new beaver parents. After recovering from her fright, Fluttershy walked the rest of the way to Sugarcube Corner, a little nervously. She had never heard of any robberies, beatings, or muggings in Ponyville, but that didn’t mean that tonight couldn't be the night, and Fluttershy couldn't be the obituary the next day. It was with a great sigh of relief that Fluttershy finally stepped through the candy doors of Sugarcube Corner and into the warm light within. Despite the ever present smell of sweets and confectionery delights, Fluttershy’s sensitive empathy picked up on something...not sweet. The answer walked (not bounced) into the room in the form of a slightly deflated Pinkie Pie. The pink party pony seemed out of herself tonight, and only brightened a little when she saw that it was Fluttershy who had opened the door. “Oh, hey there Fluttershy. I have your cake all baked and ready for you. It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.” ‘Hey there’? Where was the exuberant greeting? ‘Fluttershy’? Where were Pinkie’s trademark on-the-spot nicknames, like ‘Flutterbutter’? ‘Pretty good’? Where was the verbose nonsensory that usually characterised Pinkie’s adjectives, like ‘splendorifical, or fantabulastic’? Something must be wrong, Fluttershy realised. “Pinkie, uh...are you alright?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly as she took a few cautious steps toward Pinkie. “Oh yeah, sure. You betcha. Pinkie keen, that’s me,” Pinkie said in an attempt to be enthusiastic. Fluttershy examined Pinkie Pie up close. Her mane and tail were still poofy and crazy, but they were both drooping sadly, like a bundle of cotton candy that had been left in the sun too long. Her eyes were not sparkling with mirth like they always were, and even the balloons on her cutie mark seemed deflated. “Pinkie, are you sure there is nothing wrong” Fluttershy asked again. “Well...I...” Pinkie Pie started to lie again, but it was impossible to varnish the truth when faced with Fluttershy’s trusting, friendly blue eyes. Instead Pinkie started crying, and threw herself into an embrace with Fluttershy. Fluttershy,although surprised, allowed her instincts for caring for other creatures to take over, and started calming Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy held Pinkie Pie while slowly brushing her mane, which was impervious to any attempt at organization and maintained its poofy (although significantly less poofy than normal) shape. “There, there...shhhhh...it’s alright,” Fluttershy whispered as she gently rocked Pinkie back and forth. Once the pink pony’s sobs had subsided and turned to hiccups, Fluttershy asked her what was wrong. “Everything is wrong, Fluttershy! First Applejack loses her job and moves away. Then Rainbow Dash leaves on some errand without telling anypony where she is going, and I am worried about her. Now Rarity is going to move away too. And to top it all off, Sugarcube Corner is going bankrupt!” Fluttershy replied quietly, “What do you mean? Everyone loves the food the Cakes make! I bought cake a few days ago myself! You have always had plenty of business.” “Yeah, but that was before those stinkers Flim and Flam showed up with their doodads and their wingding machines. Now they have one of those machines to bake cupcakes and cookies. Can you believe that? And they make them so cheap we have no way to compete! You are the only customer we have had in three weeks!” “Well..surely this must be a slow time? Business will probably pick up in a few days!” Fluttershy reassured Pinkie. Pinkie Pie was not reassured. She slipped out of the slightly tear-soaked embrace and stomped over to her row of ovens. She angrily swiped a hoof across the door handle for one of the ovens, and presented it to Fluttershy for inspection. “Do you see this? Do you know what this is? This is DUST! On my ovens! This has never happened in the entire history of Pinkie Pie! I have been so desperate to bake something that I have been baking cupcakes and eating them myself! That is, until we ran out of flour, because we don’t have any MONEY!” Fluttershy covered her ears and cringed. “Pinkie, please, calm down, you’re shouting at me!” Pinkie Pie stood glaring at her friend for an eternity, sides heaving with wrath. Her nostrils flared with each exhale. Finally she stopped staring at Fluttershy and really saw her, saw her friend, her gentle friend that did nothing except try to comfort her. She exhaled all her pent up rage in a heavy sigh, and slumped her shoulders. She stared dejectedly at the floor. “Oh, Fluttershy...I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to shout at you. Could you forgive me?” Pinkie looked up, expecting to see Fluttershy already out the door, custom vegan cake in tow. Instead all Pinkie Pie saw was a wall of light yellow coat as Fluttershy pulled Pinkie in for another hug. “Fluttershy,” Pinkie started softly, silent tears working down her muzzle, “what am I going to do?” Fluttershy said, “Shhhh...that doesn’t matter right now.” Pinkie silently agreed, and settled in deeper into the embrace. There would be time later to figure out what to do. Now Pinkie just wanted to be here, really here, in this moment with her friend. Who knew when she might lose Fluttershy the way she lost Rarity and Applejack? The two friends took comfort in each other’s presence, and the cake designated for Mr. and Mrs. Beaver sat on the counter cooling until it was stone cold. It didn’t matter. Beavers don’t really like cake anyway. Mr. and Mrs. Cake eventually did lose their store and left for parts unknown looking for work. Pinkie Pie was left in the dust as Mr. and Mrs. Cake were only concerned with the well being of their family, and they could not afford to support a mere employee, even if the employee was an excellent one like Pinkie Pie. Rather than live in the now abandoned sweet shop, Pinkie moved in with Fluttershy temporarily until they could figure out what to do. About a week had passed since the night Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie embraced in Sugarcube Corner and things were looking dire. Twilight subsisted on a salary from Princess Celestia herself as a royal student, and Fluttershy had always been able to get by on the piecemeal money she had made from veterinary work and low key babysitting jobs, but Pinkie had no income. Even charity and meals from Twilight and Fluttershy wasn’t enough, and they had too little to give as it was. Pinkie woke up one day, sitting up and stretching blearily before standing. She had been sleeping on the worn couch in Fluttershy’s main room of her cottage. The couch was threadbare and hard from age and was working horrors on Pinkie’s spinal alignment. As she had no other option at the time, however, she was forced to grin and bear it. Unfortunately, she had been finding it a lot harder as of late to muster up any grins. Pinkie Pie walked to the window, ignoring her stomach’s growling since she had no money to change it, and looked outside. It was about 9 o’clock in the morning and she could not drudge up any residual feelings of festivity to make the idea of facing another day seem worthwhile. Her stomach growled again, more insistently. She started walking towards Fluttershy’s well outside to drink some water in an attempt to take the edge off her hunger, but then stopped. She could not go on like this. Something had to be done. Pinkie Pie decided to pay a visit to the only business that was doing well at all. Flim Flam Fields, now Flim Flam Incorporated. Pinkie summoned her courage, put on her game face, and set off to nail an interview.