//------------------------------// // Interlude 1 // Story: After a Fashion // by DarkPhoenix //------------------------------// Interlude 1: Quick Time Adventure Quick Time groaned, facedown on her boss’ desk. Pieces of parchment and scrolls were scattered all over the room, having been shoved roughly off the desk when her stallion-friend had come over. She should probably clean off the desktop before something sank into the wood. Why did Cloudbuilder have to come over? And why did she agree to a little quickie on the boss’ desk? Knowing her luck this week, Fancy would take this opportunity to show up just as unexpectedly as he’d left and she’d be caught. Finally summoning the energy to move, she lifted her head up. The office was a mess. Fancy had entrusted her with not only a key to his mansion, but with running his business empire while he was away. While she was flattered that he’d put that much faith in her when she was really only his assistant, she would’ve like a little more warning. She’d been shocked at first, coming into the main office and finding a letter from Fancy on her desk. The letter had contained a key to his place, as well as a list of instructions. Suddenly she went from the lowly little assistant, to in charge of one the biggest businesses in Equestria. The pressure to not screw up was immense. Of course, she knew his schedule intimately, as she was the one who made it. It just so happened that on that morning, he was supposed to be at an executive meeting. Usually she was the earth pony standing in the corner, occasionally getting Fancy some coffee, but this time she’d surprised everyone by sitting in his chair. It had taken some convincing, and she’d had to show them at least the relevant part of Fancy’s letter to her, but they’d quite grudgingly accepted that she could sit at the table. Not that they’d actually listened to anything she had to say. However, she had final say on everything in Fancy’s stead, so until they realized that, nothing would get done in the meetings. Instead, she simply did everything behind their backs. The first few days weren’t bad. It was stressful, but all new to her. That, and a part of her had reveled in the power she wielded. She couldn’t get away with firing anypony, most likely, but she certainly controlled many things now. She remembered one particular incident, on her first day as the acting head of the company. She’d been sitting in Fancy’s office, instead of at the little desk outside of it like she usually did. The door opened and in came a stallion. His name was Net Worth. For as long as she had been the barrier between Fancy and everypony else, scheduling his meetings and appointments, Net had tried to kiss Fancy’s flank. Quick had seen right through him, and done everything she could to deter him away from Fancy. Now here he was, walking into his, now her, office, a large smile on his face. Something was up, and she knew it. Only she didn’t know what his scheme was this time. Even before he slid into a seat, her eyes were narrowed and gazing right at him. “Net. What brings you by?” “Quick, I heard about your promotion. Congratulations.” “Thank you. Is that all?” She knew it wasn’t, but protocol dictated she ask. “I just came in to ask you a favor.” Of course he did. “And what favor would that be?” He leaned in closer to her, close enough she could smell his cheap cologne. “You see, I’ve got this little project I’m working on, and I need just a teensy bit more money.” “Why do you need more money? Is your current budget not enough?” That smug smile was still on his face. “No, no, it’s fine. But think of what I could do with just a little extra. This project is gonna pay off, big.” He set a hoof on the desk. “I tell you what, why don’t you meet me tonight at the Rusty Horseshoe. We can discuss this over drinks.” So this was how he was going to kiss her flank. Take her out, wine and dine her, try and get her enough drinks that she’ll sign off on the budget increase. Either that or he was hoping to get a night in the hay with her. Either way, it wasn’t going to work. “I think that is a wonderful idea, Net. However, I’m afraid that since I’m now taking over Fancy’s schedule, I can say that I have a meeting until ten tonight.” “Oh no problem, I can wait.” “Oh don’t bother yourself, we can always reschedule. I tell you what, I’ll take a look at things and see what I can do. I’ll get back to you with a time we can meet and... discuss your proposal.” Even he had enough sense to know when he was being dismissed. Still wearing his smile, he got out of the chair. “That sounds good, darling.” He extended a hoof. Loathe as she was to actually touch him, she had to at least shake his hoof. Gingerly, she grasped his hoof, giving it a quick up and down movement before dropping it like she’d been burned. As soon as he left the office, she sighed. Of course, she had no intention of ever meeting with him outside of the office. She’d find ways to deflect him and put him off until Fancy came back and he could deal with that stallion. The novelty of being in charge had worn off quickly. Before, she had structured hours and only the occasional late night. Now she was there from when Princess Celestia raised the sun, until well after Princess Luna raised the moon. She had no free time, barely any sleep. She was running almost entirely off of caffeine, with the occasional dirty coffee thrown in. How Fancy did this and still somehow had a life, she desperately wanted to know. The past couple of days she’d been working out of Fancy’s home. He’d left a number of things there for her to do, and it was more private than the office. There was still a blockade of paparazzi ponies outside, which served to deter all but the most crucial of visitors. Those stuffy executive ponies could deal with not having her around. Every time she entered or left the manor, she had to wander through the paparazzi. Cameras were shoved in her face, questions were asked. She just ignored all of them. Being Fancy Pant’s assistant, she was used to it, though based on the headlines, nopony remembered who she was, which was fine by her. That way they stayed out of her personal life. Today, for the second day in a row, she’d been holed up in Fancy’s home office, reading scrolls, signing off on things, making notations. There was enough paperwork here to bury a pony, or in this case, to cover the floor in a fine layer of paper. Cloudbuilder coming over to say hi, since they hadn’t seen each other all week, had been a welcome distraction. Of course, he’d started kissing her, rubbing his hoof along her flank. She’d gotten into it, leaning back on the desk. Then he’d asked her if she wanted him, the papers had scattered and— She shook her head vigorously. Continuing down that train of thought would only end with her hoof finding itself somewhere it shouldn’t. No, she needed to be cleaning up the mess, not adding to it. Flexing her hooves, she began the laborious process of fixing what she’d done. First off was cleaning off the desk. A rag and some cleaner took care of that. From there, she organized the papers again. A quick glance at each one and it was sorted into the Done or Not Done piles. It took her longer to clean up the mess than it had to make it. One look at the two piles of parchment and she nearly cried. The Done pile was so meager compared to the Not Done. It was like she was standing at a base of Canterlot Mountain, if the mountain was made of orders and forms and letters and offers and more. Not for the first time, she cursed Fancy for being so selfish and running off somewhere. As soon as he came back, she’d give him a piece of her mind. He always said that he wanted her to be honest with him, and to never be afraid to speak up. Well, he might regret that. Quick entertained ideas of just quitting, but she knew that she’d never do that. For one, she made too many bits. For another, she was the assistant to one of the most powerful ponies in Equestria. She was learning quite a lot. Someday she’d start her own business, since while Fancy obviously let her run his empire temporarily, she had no doubt that he’d hoof it over to somepony else. She leant back in the chair, face turned up to the ceiling. After just a week, she didn’t want to do this anymore. It was stressful, the work load was ridiculous, she had no more social life. The chair overbalanced and she went tumbling head over flank. “Whoa!” she cried out. Hitting the wall, she let out a very undignified “Oof!” She leaned with her back against the wall. “Today, is just not my day.” Her head thunked back against the wall. There was a barely audible click, and the wall gave way. Letting out another yelp, she was deposited on her back, staring up at the ceiling. At first, she thought that she’d landed on the door. But Fancy’s desk faced a wall, and behind the chair was simply another wall. The door into the office was on the side wall. So what in Tartarus had she bumped against? The ceiling was offering no answers, so she sat up. One look at the “door” told her what had happened. Somehow, a section of wall had swung inward, revealing a hidden room. Using her hoof, she swing the door closed. Whoever had built it certainly knew their stuff, it blended in perfectly, no visible seam. Opening the door again, she beheld a small room. What it had been used for, and why it was hidden, she had no idea. The only thing that was in it was a stack of papers, most of which looked like photos. She knew that she should just close the door and forget about it. Fancy’s private life was not for her to know, beyond what she read in the tabloids and learned just from being around him. Since she handled his schedule, she was also responsible for scheduling his dates, making reservations, etc. Her curiosity got the better of her. Who knew when she’d have a chance to be alone in his manor like this again. Besides, he owed her for doing all of this. A quick peek at his secrets wouldn’t hurt anything. If it was worth hiding, it was certainly worth her knowing. She looked through the stack, very quickly finding a common theme: A blue-maned pony. She was very pretty, Quick had to admit. Something about her seemed familiar, though she was only able to put a name on the pony because some of the picture were from newspapers, and the captions were helpful. The pony’s name was Rarity. Looking at the backgrounds in the picture, she was able to recognize where they were taken. “So she lives in Ponyville,” she wondered aloud to the secret room. “But why the buck does Fancy have so many pictures of her?” It looked like he’d found every picture of her that ever existed. Her mind worked, trying to come up with reasons why he not only had some many pictures, but why he’d hide them. Fleur was the pony that he was banging every night, or at least she used to be. Fancy hadn’t taken any trips to Ponyville recently, she’d know if he did. None of that answered her question, though. Whoever this pony was, she was special to Fancy. So she was significant, but he needed to hide her... She gasped, the only logical conclusion leaping into her mind. “Fancy has a mistress!” The conclusion didn’t surprise her, every stallion of power in Canterlot had a mistress. It was just a part of the society. It was only logical that Fancy had a mistress on the side as well. With him banging Fleur every night, she’d figured that would be enough. That mare had legs that went on for days. If she wasn’t in a relationship already, Quick would love to have a go with Fleur and Fancy in some sort of threesome. This mare obviously meant a lot to Fancy if he had a secret room built to hide all the stuff he had on her. Fleur must have found out about it, that’s why she left. Which meant that since Fancy was single again, he went to Ponyville to be with his mistress. Figures. He was off galavanting with some ladder-climbing tart from a backwater nowhere and she was doing all the hard work running his company. These high society ponies had no respect for the hard working, common pony. Here she was, slaving away at running his company, while he went off and had himself a grand old time. Selecting a photo that had only Rarity in it, she left the hidden room behind. Odds were, Fancy was in some kind of sex stupor and most certainly wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon. In that case, she’d be going to him. After she finished all that paperwork. Closing the room behind her, it paid to be mindful of her boss’ secrets, she went back to the desk. She selected a scroll at random, unrolling it. A smaller piece of paper fluttered out of it. Sometimes a pony wrote a scroll and then realized they forgot something so quickly stuffed a smaller note in there. She read through the scroll. It was from Net Worth, again, asking for an increase in his budget, again. She’d rejected him twice already. Even a stallion as dense as him had to get the message after the third time. She scrawled a rejection notice on the scroll and signed it, placing it in the ‘done’ stack for filing. Her attention went to the little note. It wouldn’t hurt to see what it said. Hopefully one of the other, smarter ponies on his team had written her an apology for Net’s behavior. Picking up the note, she read it over. The more she read, the more disgusted she felt. It wasn’t an addendum, or even an apology. Instead, it was a note that was doing everything but hit on her. He even signed it with a little heart. Was he seriously stupid enough to think that she’d actually sleep with him? And that he could use that to get ahead? She’d rather walk off the castle’s tallest tower than have anything to do with him. No, this was the last straw. She was going to go drag him away from whatever vacation he was having so she could escape this hell. She was not going to be putting up with Net, or any of the other ponies trying to use her, anymore. Fancy was going to come back and deal with this himself, whether he wanted to or not. Grabbing the photo of Rarity, she left the mansion. The paparazzi were still out there, but she ignored them. Some of them were shouting accusations that she was sleeping with Fancy, which didn’t faze her. Worse had been shouted at her since she’d been working for him. It wasn’t her fault the media had the attention span of a gnat, and was about as annoying as one as well. If they couldn’t remember who she was, then that was on them. If she hurried, she could just make the last train out tonight. There was no time to go to her apartment to pack anything. Besides, she had a pouch of bits she’d grabbed from his desk, so he was technically paying for everything. A nice shopping spree in Ponyville would do her wonders. Maybe she’d actually be able to find somepony who made decent clothing around there. Some of the pictures of Rarity looked like they came from fashion magazines, so Rarity was involved in that world somehow. Hopefully she was a designer, and Quick could get Fancy to give her some clothes to start repaying her for this. Running through Canterlot, she made it to the train station with less than a minute to spare. Fortunately for her, the trains had an option to buy a ticket on the train itself. Bypassing the ticket window, she rushed to the tracks and leapt on the train just as the conductor was calling out that it was leaving. She found a seat in first class, Fancy could certainly afford it, and settled in. Within a couple minutes, an attendant would ask to see her ticket, and she’d be forced to buy one. However, that didn’t matter. What did matter, was that when the train pulled into Ponyville tomorrow morning, she’d track down the mysterious mare, and then Fancy. And after that, Fancy would answer to her. She smiled to herself. Oh yes, Fancy would certainly get an earful.