You closed the book before mumbling something about, "useless fluff," and discarding the book. Silence then rang in the apartment for several moments before a grand sigh comes out of You, and You got up to stretch. That's when You noticed something strange.
Not truly strange mind you, but rather unusual for that room in particular. For across the hall and down a little ways, you had noted earlier that there was a constant flow of industrial work going on, as if somepony had left some machinery on. Now everything was silent.
Voices mumble to each other before a door slams shut, and You heard the sound of trotting as it came closer to the front door of the apartment. You stood up and brushed off slightly, and noticed that the book You just discarded is still laying open on the couch. The door was starting to unlock, that's when You quickly grabbed the book and jammed it into the bookshelf where it belonged.
The door clacked as the tumblers fell into place around the key, and in steps the owner of the space. A blue unicorn, with a red and gold mane. Strangely enough, he was riding atop of a quite animated end table. "Alright buddy, back to the office with you. Discord's probably not too keen on the idea of having you run around the streets of Canterlot for too long."
The table reared up and took off back down the hall in a fury of gallops. He laughed slightly before looking into the studio apartment, and seeing that You had been standing there. "Who the hexagon are you?"
You stood there with a grin before speaking up, giving Phoenix a few moments to try to put pieces together. Finally, after a few moments, You answered, "I am You."
Phoenix stood there quite flabbergasted as he looked You over, before finally responding with a simply brilliant, "You don't look anything like me."
The gryphon remained unamused. "No, I'm not you, my name is You."
"Why is your name-"
"My parent's have a stupid sense of humor okay?!" The gryphon huffed before snapping his talons knuckles against the wooden floor. "Besides that it's quite common where I come from."
"I haven't met very many gryphons named You before," Phoenix said with a frown. "Are you from some sort of hippie community?"
You adjusted his tie slightly as he rolled his eyes. "Please, what about me could possibly make you think such a thing about me?" He then snapped his talons and was quickly wrapped in a ring of green flames. At first, Phoenix was shocked about the fire, only to be replaced with a substantial amount of shock to find a changeling in his living room. "As I said, it's quite a common name where I come from."
"You, you're a changeling? One of those... those bugs!"
You gave off a sigh as he puffed on an unlit pipe. "Clearly I am a changeling, but I don't recall being some sort of bug, I do only have four legs after all." The changeling quickly lit the herbs in his pipe and began to puff as a rancid smell began to fill the room. "Now then, I am a representative from the Canterlot Airship yards."
If Phoenix was afraid of the changeling before, he had been fairly restrained. Now however, at the mention of his previous job, he seemed to have become quite livid with fear as his eyes bulged out and he began to back away to the door. "No, you stay back... You!"
You stepped forward as he levitated a set of papers and pair of spectacles from a bag. "Come come now, there's no need to be that way. I've only been sent here to check up on you. It's been over a year since you took your little vacation you know."
"Vacation?" Phoenix stood in puzzlement as he tried to think over the events of last year, before his memories were wiped clean by Discord after he was released from his stone prison. Before he was even in the stone prison.
Phoenix walked up to the managers office with a rather large smile and a newspaper. "Hey there Mister Loft, can I go on vacation for a while? I'm trying to get my story published."
Arial Loft smiled brightly as he passed Phoenix his paycheck for the week. "Sure sure, I don't see why not! Just don't be gone too long now, the holiday rush is going to be coming fast in a couple weeks."
Phoenix smiled as he placed his paycheck into his satchel and nodded. "No problem, I just gotta work something out with Equestria Daily in a couple days, so I thought that I would take a few days to prepare myself before I meet with the owner."
Phoenix was jerked back into reality after the memory played back in his mind, and he saw the changeling had put his pipe out, and was now helping himself to some of the bourbon. It's age was questionable to begin with when he'd bought it a year ago, but now that it's been sitting in the cupboard for a year, he was quite sure that it was undrinkable. "Um, hey You, I wouldn't drink that if I were you."
The changeling ignored Phoenix as he downed the shot in one go before adjusting his red tie. "Hmm, sorry what was that?"
"Nevermind," the unicorn mumbled back before grabbing his hat and placing it on the coat rack. "Look, I don't know how you didn't get the memo, but I'd been locked up for the past year in Celestia's garden."
"Ah yes, what statue were you? Tenacity if I recall properly. Had a bunch of books around you."
"Actually I was Determination, but that's beside the point. Why are you here now?"
The changeling looked at the papers he'd pulled out and flipped through a few pages before he found what he was looking for. "Ah well according to this here, you had requested and was granted vacation time from work with pay. Unfortunately, you've been missing from work for over a year, and are due for termination without pay."
Phoenix stuttered for a few moments at the news, and started grasping at straws. "But, but... I was in prison! I just spent a week with Discord being a glorified paper pusher without my memory, how is this my fault?"
"Well, the way the company sees it, it's your fault for not informing us of your imprisonment. Therefore, you have one of two options. One, you can do one last dangerous job to get all your back pay."
"I'll do no such thing," Phoenix said with a huff.
"Or you lose over a hundred thousand bits and will face a class action lawsuit."
"So when do we get started?"
Phoenix hated his job, or rather he hated the one he had before he started working for Discord. The pay was alright, and he loved airships, and working at the airship yards gave him lots of opportunities to look at them. What he hated was that he was a courier for the company. What he was supposed to do, was deliver letters between offices and ships that were docked, and help load mail onto the ships that had to travel long distances. It doesn't sound bad, and it's not. At least, not until you find yourself suddenly helping out the ponies with scrubbing the tops of the zeppelins, or you have a crate of packages fall out of the ships cargo hold.
Yeah, there were days where he could really hate his job. Especially for the fact that he couldn't ever afford to travel on one of those great ships, it felt like torture to him to be around them all day after a while. But despite all that, he stuck to the job for years, and probably would have gone back to it, if not for Discord. But now, he wanted nothing than to be as far away as possible from the place. Not because of the ships, or the changeling that brought him there. No, it was all because of the gryphon sitting across from him.
"Well well well, if it isn't mister holiday himself," Timely Manner said with a smile that could only be described as mean. "How nice to see you again."
Phoenix sat on the floor as his boss looked down at him from behind the desk. "Uh, hi. Look, I'm sorry about this misunderstanding, but I'd been encased in stone and-"
"Don't talk back to me Mister Quill, in this business, you only speak when I permit you! Is that clear?" Phoenix, unsure if he should or shouldn't speak up, said nothing and only nodded. "I'm sorry, I asked you a question, I asked if I was clear. Well say something blast you!"
"Uh, yes sir, Mister Manner, uh, sir..." Phoenix sweated slightly and looked down at the floor like a foal that was caught steeling cookies from the jar. He's got me over a barrel and he knows it, curse him. I hate that stallion, I hope he falls off the mountain tomorrow. I don't even want the bits, but no, he's gotta threaten to sue me if I don't come in. I bet he enjoys this, sick freak, I hope you rot in tartarus.
"That's what I like about you Phoenix, you always bow down to your betters." Timely Manner slid open a drawer to his right and pulled out an envelope. "Your assignment is simple, take these papers with you to the Airship Regale. You there, you shall be placed in charge of your delivery. Help the crew in any way you can, whenever you are told to, and once you arrive, make sure that the paperwork is signed for the cargo."
Phoenix couldn't help but ask one question, and winced as if he'd shot himself in the hoof for doing so. "Is that all?"
"Yes that's all you freeloader! The Airship Regale is also going to be conducting a few weather experiments enroute to Eaglend, and you will be in charge of the equipment, so be on special alert."
Phoenix looked at the grey pegasus with a very pitiful look, hoping to pursuade him from sending him on this task, but he knew he was doomed to go on that ship. "Can't I just, let you keep the bits and you don't sue me?"
"Get out of my office."