//------------------------------// // Hard Times // Story: When a Plan Comes Together // by Algoortheviking //------------------------------// “Foreclosure? What do you mean foreclosure!?” A grey unicorn stallion dressed in a slick black suit sporting a pair of round reading glasses stood imposingly in the door way. He levitated a steel briefcase, inside of it contained a multitude of manila folders filled with documents. Pulling one of the folders out, he proceeded to open it and divulge the paperwork inside. “Miss Heartstrings, you’re going on three months without payment. Don’t tell me you didn’t expect this to end any differently? I have paperwork from the banks stating that if you continue to default on your payments then this property will be repossessed.” “This is horseshit! I made a payment last week. You can’t foreclose my house!” Lyra exclaimed, shocked as she tried to comprehend the situation at hand. She glanced over the documents back and forth in a panic, looking for some logical explanation. “You paid one-hundred and eighty four bits last week, you owe the bank one-thousand two hundred and ninety-seven bits in total,” The stallion replied without so much as a shift in his unimpressed expression. Lyra was clutching her head in frustration as she pondered a plan to get herself out of this mess. “Look I know it seems bad, really, but I swear I’ll get you the money. I just need a little more time, that’s all. It’s just really tough to make a living with the way the economy’s been lately. Please I just need a little more time,” Lyra begged as she dropped to the floor, groveling at his hooves as she pleaded for mercy. “Trust me, Miss Heartstrings, I’m aware of how bad of things are. Your home is the seventh one so far that failed to meet payments this month. It’s truly splendid for some pony in my line of work,” the stallion chuckled as he returned the folder back into the briefcase. Lyra, her face flushed with anger, slammed the door in the stallions face. “SCREW YOU! Just you wait; I’ll have that cash in no time! No pony is taking my home away!” Lyra screamed as she stumbled backwards from the door. Flopping back down onto the floor, she took a moment to rest her nerves. “Lyra, are you ok? Whats wrong and who were you screaming at?” A beige colored mare asked as she made her way downstairs into the living quarters of the house. “Bon-Bon! Oh uh, hmmm, how do I put this… I defaulted on the house note…” “You what?! Lyra, how can you be so irresponsible?" You said you would take care of the property expenses," Bon-Bon scolded with a look of disapointmen in here eye. Suddenly the severity of the situation started to sink in. "Are we, are we losing the house?” Bon-Bon glanced around the room; a building that she had come to call home for the past few years. She turned to focus on her mint green roommate, who sat depressingly in the middle of the floor. “Lyra, what are we going to do?” Lyra lifted her head up, hesitating for a moment as she struggled to think of a response. “I don’t know yet, but I’ll think of something. Perhaps I’ll take on a second job, get more hours… I don’t know… something.” It was mid-day, the sun shined brightly over Ponyville Park as a gust blew through the trees; leaves dancing in the wind. Lying on a park bench by the lake, Lyra and Bon-Bon pondered on their current situation. Lyra was lying on her back, her head propped up against the arm rest while she crossed her hooves on her chest. Bonbon took a more traditional approach to siting down on a park bench like most ponies do. Glancing around, everything seemed fine on the surface, ponies still played in the park and there was business in the market square. However the effects of the economy where clear in ponies faces, ‘Will I be able to put food on the table?’ ‘Can I pay off that mortgage?’ ‘Will my fillies and colts be able to still attend school?’ All of these worries where as clear as day. “So Lyra, what did they say?” asked a cautious Bon-Bon, eggier to know the course of action they would need to take. Lyra however stalled for a moment as she stared up at the sky. “I’m sorry Lyra, we just can’t afford to pay anymore overtime. If you haven’t noticed we’re kinda in a pickle here,” Lyra responded sarcastically as she waved her arms in the air. “No pony’s hiring right now either so procuring a second job has been difficult.” Lowering her head at the news; Bon-Bon struggled to think of possible solutions. “We could always sell some of that junk in the basement?” “Thats is out of the question!” Lyra sneered viciously at the thought, raising her head off of the arm rest and batting an eye. “Lyra, we are in a crisis right now! We need the money otherwise we won’t have a home, and I refuse to sleep in some dark alley way in the middle of winter.” “I would cut off my own horn before I sell off my prized human artifacts collection, and that is the end of that discussion.” Lyra snorted, returning her head to the armrest as she returned her gazed towards the bright blue sky. “Lyra, please, we don’t have any-” a sudden bust of magic erupted from behind the bench, a bright flash of blinding light. Both ponies sprang up at the sound, turning to see what was going on behind them. A towering figure emerged from the magic mist and approched the two ponies on the bench. “Is that arguing I hear? Why friends shouldn’t argue, friends should be out frolicking in the sun, having picnics or whatever it is you ponies do.” “Who the hell are you?" Lyra gazed up at the imposing figure, trying to put a name to the face. "Wait a minute, aren’t you the one who messed up Ponyville that one time? Turned all the roads into soap?” “I see you’re a fan of my handiwork.” “Please don’t use the word hand; you’ll get her started on a topic that knows no end,” Bon-Bon commented to the stranger, glancing back over to Lyra. “Ah yes, you are indeed correct. I am Discord. Embodiment of chaos and bringer of bouquets,” Discord replied, pulling a set of multi-colored flower bouquets out of thin air, handing one to each pony. Lyra glossed over the flowers in confusion at the randomness of Discords sudden debut, “What are these for?” She asked holding up the bouquet with a confused look. Discord frowned and stuck his chin up at Lyras’ question, “Well if you don’t want them then I’ll just give them to somepony else who will appreciate them then,” and with a snap of his claw the flowers vanished just as fast as they appeared. Bon-Bon turned her focus towards Discord while Lyra got teary eyed and trembling lips after losing the bouquet. “What do you want Discord? Why are you bothering us?” “Bothering you, well I am offended for sure now, and to think I was going to offer you a solution to your current… financial problems,” Discord replied as a grin crept across his face, glancing behind him at the two ponies on the bench. Lyra immediately snapped back into focus at Discords reply. “Wait! What kind of solution?” Standing up and leaning forward on the back rest of the bench, Lyra eagerly awaited Discords explanation. “Heist, my beloved minty green unicorn who has an interest in a particular creature that I may or may not have information on, though that’s not important right now; anyhoo back to the subject at han… hoof, That’s my solution to your current dilemma,” “Wait, hold on? You want us to steal money? We’re not thieves!” Bon-Bon exclaimed as she too stood up on the bench to face Discord. “Phff, don’t think of it as stealing, think of it as… The planning and overseeing of sensitive operations.” “So your solution is for us to hold up a few market stalls?” Lyra chuckled at the idea. “Sorry but there’s no money to be made in crime.” “Blah, what do you know. Anypony can hold up a market stall and make a few bits, what I’m talking about will earn you thousands in one take. More than whatever you’re probably making at your current boring, dead-end job,” Teleporting right beside Lyra, Discord lifted her up and held her under his arm. Bringing his head right beside hers; he scratched his claw under her chin, “Besides I can tell that you will be particularly successful at it, my little pony.” “What makes you think that?” Lyra questioned as she pulled her head away from Discords claw. “I have a nose for this sort of thing my dear,” Discord replied in a low, suggestive tone of voice. He dropped Lyra on the ground and pulled out a small wooden box, “I actually have a nose for all sorts of things. Wanna see?” He asks, opening the box. It was filled with an assortment of noses of all shapes and sizes. Lyra sat there staring into the box without a clue in the world. “I appreciate the offer but I think I’ll pass,” Lyra replied as she picked herself off the ground and proceeded to brushing herself off. “Oh boo… Well if you ever change your mind then simply use this,” Discord pulled out an oddly carved whistle which was decorated like himself. “This is the Whistle of Chaos, give it a blow and I’ll teach you everything you need to know about becoming financially independent. Except on Wednesdays at two o’clock, that’s me and Fluttershy’s picnic hour, she does make the best herbal tea. Anyways, tootles!” Discord disappeared as the magic spell closed behind him. Lyra looked down at the whistle she now held in her hoof. Eyeing a nearby trash can she proceeded to throw it into the garbage, taking one last glance at it she lowered her hoof. “Well he was sure annoying,” Bon-Bon commented as she approached Lyra, glancing back to see If Discord was still lingering around anywhere. “You got that right.” “Lyra, what are going to do, we need a real solution,” Lyra glanced towards town as she tried to think of an answer. “I guess I’ll keep looking for a second job, it’s about all I can do right now.” “Fired? How can I be fired?” asked a trembling pegasus sitting in an office room. Plaques and awards for best service lined the walls. In the center of it all was a large steel desk, spread out over the top of the desk were some personal files. A large bulky stallion with a five o’clock shadow on his chin struggled to get the words out of his throat. “Looks, I’m really sorry Derpy, but the companys’ been have’n to let some of its’ workers go. We’z can’t afford to pay no more employees and still make a profit. It ain’t nothin personal or anything, we just needed to let some ponies go. Trust me; I didn’t want to see you go neither but to be fair we just threw some names into a hat and picked them that way. Yours was one that came up.” Derpy sat in the cold metal folding chair, on the brink of tears and unable to utter a word. A nightmare that has been plaguing so many ponies was becoming a reality. Derpy took one final look at the post office she had served for so many years. “Looks, if we start hiring again, I’ll let ya know as soon as possible. You were definitely one of our best mail mares, dats for sure. It’s a crying shame it’s come to this,” the large stallion replied as he closed the personal folder. “You take care of yourself, and don’t be afraid to ask us if you need anything.” Outside the post office, Derpy sat there, lost in thought as reality started to sink in. She was without a job and with no way to pay rent or to buy food. Collapsing into tears, Derpy huddled up and sulked outside the office. “Hey Derpy is that you? Hey you wouldn’t know if the post office is hiring…” Lyra yelled as she trotted up the street. As she drew closer she could tell something was immediately wrong. “Derpy what’s wrong? Is everything ok?” Drying her eyes and wiping her muzzle, Derpy attempted to put on a smile as Lyra approached. “Oh, hello Lyra, what are you up to?” Derpy asked as she sniffled a bit while she wiped her eyes. “Derpy what’s wrong? What happened to you?” “Me? Oh nothing, it’s just…” Derpy hesitated for a moment, reliving the events that transpired. “I… lost my job.” “What! No that can’t be, not to you!” “Yeah, now I won’t be able to cover next months’ rent if I can’t get a new job in time. I won’t be able to afford to eat if I spend everything on rent. I… I just don’t know what happened? Where did it all go wrong? Just last week everything was fine and now…” Lyra placed her hoof on Derpys shoulder, bringing her hysteria to a halt. She began to tear up as she looked up to Lyra, who was wearing a pleasant smile. “If you want, you can stay at my place, I don’t mind. And if we work together, I’m sure we can survive these hard times.” “No no no, I can’t do that! I would be intruding and you already have too much to worry about besides me…” “It’s ok Derpy, I said I don’t mind. It’s what friends are for,” Lyra grinned as Derpy stared at her in awe struck. Feeling a sense of hope, Derpy grinned right back as Lyra helped her off the ground. “Come on, I’ll show you the Place.” “And here we are!” Lyra exclaimed with much enthusiasm. Derpy walked into the building slowly as she looked around. “So do you live here by yourself?” Derpy asked as she trotted around, looking at layout of the room. “Bon-Bon is my roommate; she pays for stuff like food while I take care of the utilities expenses. It’s a two bedroom, one bath upstairs. So we’ll have to find a place for you to sleep.” “I can just sleep on the couch, it doesn’t really matter much to me. I’m just glad I’ll have a place to stay,” Derpy replied enthusiastically. “As you can see, the living room and the kitchen are both down stairs and we have a fireplace so we don’t have to worry about the cold. Behind the pantry on the left is a door that leads to the basement. It has a few open ended rooms but I won’t make you stay down there.” Lyra smiled as she saw Derpy filled with joy and new hope. “Oh but there is one problem… this place is going to be foreclosed if we can’t pay the bill on time, so I need all the help I can get.” “You can count on me! I’ll get a new job, A S A P!” Derpy exclaimed excitedly as she held her hoof in solute. Lyra smiled at Derpys’ energetic cooperation and turned to open the door. “ Alright, let’s do this!” “Sorry ya’ll. Apple season is just about over and I reckon we’re going to need to save every single bit we can.” “Sorry darlings, with the way this dreadful economy is lately, I’ve been unable to sell my new summer line up. Ooh this really is a disaster. Come back again when things start to pick back up.” “Sorry girls, it’s just a bad time to be in the flower business. I can barely afford the fertilizer to keep these things in top condition.” “Are you kidding me?! With the way things have been going, we’re having to use twenty five percent less sugar in all our pastries. Twenty five percent less, can you believe that?! How can you make cupcakes with twenty five percent less sugar? TWENTY FIVE PERCENT! IT IS REDICULOUS!” “Nope, no can do. Sorry, it’s just that no pony is buying sofas at this time… or quills for that matter.” The door slammed as Derpy and Lyra returned into the house, exhausted from a day of job hunting. Lyra flopped down onto the couch while Derpy threw herself into a chair. “I never thought finding a job would be so difficult,” Lyra said as she let out a sigh, sprawled out on the couch. “Oh, Lyra is that you? Home already… and is that Derpy with you?” Bon-Bon asked as she trotted down the stairs. Derpy waved as she sat up in the chair. “Yeah, Derpy’s going to be staying with use for a while,” Lyra responded, “She’s out of a job and needs a place to stay.” “Lyra, are you sure that’s a good idea, we’re not exactly in a position to be helping other ponies ourselves with this whole… crisis going on. No offense Derpy,” Bon-Bon replied as she made her way into the living room. “Why are you home this early anyway? I thought you were out job searching?” “We were, and nopony seems to be hiring anywhere. We must have visited every place in town!” Lyra stared at the ceiling momentarily as she rested here mind. “If we can find Derpy a new job soon we can all collaborate all of our earnings to riding out this depression. It will be easier to pay the bills if we have three ponies working under one roof than just the two of us.” Lyra sat up and rotated her head to help release the tension in her neck. After a few cracks she proceeded to massaging the center of her neck and shoulders with her hoof. Staring at the floor, she began to dwell on the immediate problem at hand. “It all won’t matter if we can’t get the one thousand bits by the end of the month.” Lyra threw her hooves up in the air as she stretched out her arms and back. Bon-Bon and Derpy quickly glanced at each other before returning their attention to Lyra. “I’ll continue looking for a new job in the morning,” Derpy said as she hopped down out of the chair. “And I’ll see if I can find any loose bits or valuables we can pawn off around here,” Bon-Bon replied with a smile. “Well you won’t be seeing much of me then, I’ll be taking every available shift I can get my hooves on,” Lyra explained as she got up from the sofa. “Tomorrow’s going to be a long day for me, that’s for sure. But we will make it through this no matter what.” “Yeah, No matter what!” Derpy exclaimed excitedly as she hopped down onto the floor. “Agreed,” Bon-Bon replied with a smile, appreciative of what wonderful friends she has. “All right everypony; gather around, I have some news for you.” Lyra stopped stocking shelves and looked over at her boss in the front of the store, all the other employees made their way over to hear what he had to say. “Listen up, due to recent events, we are having to make some cuts. So everypony is going to get a new copy of their schedule. We have had to cut hours drastically.” There was a lot of commotion at this news, employees where panicking. Lyra stood there in shock at this info. Just how much time was cut she wondered. “This is outrageous! How can you just cut our hours like this!” one pony yelled out, a majority of other ponies agreed with this associate as they began to demand an explanation. “Look, it was either cut hours or cut employees! We felt the best course of action was to cut the schedules. Yes you will be making a lot less but at least you still have your jobs.” Her heart sunk into her stomach after hearing this. Lyra immediately ran to check her revised schedule. She stood there in shock. “No… theres no way I can make enough money with this many hours… I won’t even be able to make a quarter of the payment like this…” “Look we’re all going through hard times, consider your selves lucky to still be employed. There are some out there who would kill to be in your position right now. That’s all, back to work, all of you.” Entering the house, Lyra closed the door slowly behind her. She turned to see Derpy and Bon-Bon in the living room awaiting here arrival. “Please tell me you two have had more luck than me?” Bon-Bon and Derpy glanced at each other, not sure who should go first. “I flew all over ponyville… there were no job positions available,” Derpy said as she lowered her head in failure. “And it would seem that the pawn shop went out of business. I found some bits around here but it’s barely enough to buy one night’s dinner.” Bon-Bon noticed the anxiety in Lyra’s expression. “Lyra, what’s wrong, what happened?” Lyra looked up at the two of them, struggling to break the news. “They changed up everyponies schedule so I’m not working as much anymore. For this month alone I’ll be working a total of sixty-four hours.” Bon-Bon stumbled backwards in shock. “Lyra, that’s only eight full days of work, there’s no way we can survive on that kind of income! I mean I’m glad you still have a job but Lyra, what are we going to do about the house? We have a few weeks before that guy comes back to foreclose the place.” Holding her hoof up to her mouth, Lyra glanced around the room, looking for anything that could give her an idea. She sat down on the cold wood floor for a moment, her gaze jumping around everywhere as she searched her mind over for ideas. Her eyes cut to Derpy who was just as worried. She too was in thought to how she could help. Lyra let how a sigh as she stood back up and turned her focus to Derpy. “Derpy, you weren’t around when this happened. I may have a solution but I need to know if you’re willing to go through with this?” “I’m willing to help out any way I can,” Derpy replied. Her eyes lighting up as she drew closer to hear what Lyra had to say. “Yesterday morning before I ran into you, Bon-Bon and I met this guy named Discord…” “NO! Lyra, that is out of the question!” “Do we really have a choice Bon-Bon? Listen, we met this guy named Discord who you might have heard of. He offered us a way of making money, though his methods may not be entirely legal. He gave me a way to contact him should we decide to go with his idea; however doing so could result in us breaking the law. I’m willing to at least hear him out but I won’t drag you two into it. So I ask you, are you willing to at least see what he has to offer? Are you willing to hear him out?” Lyra gave both of them a serious stare, waiting to hear their responses. “I’m in! You were nice enough to help me out, so I’m willing to help you out,” Derpy replied with a smile. “This is a bad Idea…” Bon-Bon took in a deep breath and released a slow exhale. “But I’ll trust you this time Lyra. So I’m in as well.” Lyra smiled pleasantly, her heart filled with joy to know her friends had her back. She levitated the Whistle of Chaos out of her saddle bag which rested in the corner of the room. “Alright, here goes nothing.” Lyra pressed her lips against the stem of the whistle and blew as hard as she could into the instrument. The whistle let out an ear shattering roar of a jaguar, which led to some confused looks on the ponies faces. They sat there for a moment, waiting to see if anything would happen. “Is that it? That was anti-climactic…” A sudden flash of light appeared as the sound of thunder filled the room. As the ponies regained their sight they were met by the Lord of Chaos himself. “Why hello ponies, what can I, Discord, do for you today?”