//------------------------------//
// Part 2 - Chapter 1: Return to the Office 
// Story: Office Love 
// by Flutterpriest 
//------------------------------//

	Every choice has a consequence. Every choice has a silver lining. Would you rather take a chance and accept the pain that follows? Or would you rather refuse to choose and always wonder ‘what-if’?

You can't help but smile as you're writing out paperwork at your desk. It's been nearly a month since... well, 'The Night.' The night when everything happened in such a quick succession that you could only act on natural instinct. Of course, as bad as you feel for Berry after all that’s happened, you can't help but feel... generally good. In fact, you'd go as far as to say things are great.

Taking your mug of coffee, you take a deep sip to push yourself through those afternoon sleep spells. You glance around at the four walls of your office and can't help feeling somewhat... trapped. Rising to your feet, you shove a hand into your pocket. Some fresh air is exactly what you need. Once you begin to realize how much you hate it here… you just need to decompress.

You step out of your office and walk down the hall, nodding to Brand as he passes by you. He gives you a simple smile and nod in return.

Suddenly. your phone buzzes. You pull it out of your pocket and flip it open. One new Text Message from Autumn.



"I hope you're having a wonderful day! <3"



An involuntary smile curls on your face as you type out a reply.



"I'm having a great day. I hope you are too, babe. <3"



You shove your phone back into your pocket before hitting the button for the elevator. 

There’s a lot that a man can ask for in life. A simple job. Steady income. But somehow, some greater power blessed you with Autumn, and you're more than thankful for it. The last four weeks with her have made each day something new and exciting to tackle. Sometimes the two of you would hit the town for a night of wine and good food, and sometimes you'd just stay inside, read a book together, and lose track of the time. Heck, she's even gotten to the point of leaving a spare set of clothes for work around your place. That's a good sign. Right? You're pretty sure that's a good sign.

The elevator chime rings, the doors open, and you step inside. 

"Hold the door please," says a weak feminine voice from the hall.

You recognize it instantly, and you aren't sure if you should hold it or not. Against your natural judgement, you hold the door.

Then, well. Then there's Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus trots towards the elevator, then freezes once she sees you inside. A chill fills the air as the two of you stand, facing each other.

"Uhm, on second thought, I think I'm going up. Not down," she says.

"You sure?" you ask.

She nods quietly and you let the door close between the two of you. Closing your eyes, you let loose a sigh of relief.

“Probably for the best,” you mutter

The doors to the elevator chime open and you step out into the tiled floors of the main floor. You do your best to admire the fountain in the office lobby, but you can't get your mind off of the yellow pegasus. You haven't really tried to talk to her to make amends yet, but could that be for the better? She took advantage of you before... and tried to bed you another time. Does she really have your best interests at heart?

You push out the front doors of the office as you look to the crowd of people in front of the building. You pause, feeling a sickening sense of deja-vu overwhelm you.

"Wait a minute," you mutter to yourself.

In a flash, you move to the crowd of people and look along with the crowd. There, standing at the top of your office building, is a yellow pegasus, with a long pink mane, swaying in the wind. She pauses, staring down at the ground.

"Don't do it!" somepony in the group calls up to her.

You feel as if you lose your voice. You try to move your arms, but you're rooted to the spot.

She places a hoof on the lip of the building, then leaps.

You open your mouth to scream, but nothing comes out.

Then, the world around you vanishes. You feel your body spasm as you open your eyes to the darkness of your room. Moonlight streams through your windows as you sit up in bed and feel the coolness of your apartment on your clammy skin. You place a hand to your forehead, trying to catch your breath.

The fall colored mare in the covers beside you stirs and turns on a light.

"Was it another bad dream?" she asks groggily.

You remain quiet for a moment before returning a simple 'yeah.’





You watch each minute tick by on the alarm clock, but sleep chooses to elude you for another night. You alternate between watching as the minutes tick ever closer to when the alarm will go off, signaling the beginning of another miserable day at the office. The weekend never seems to last long enough these days. Then, when the minutes ticking by only stresses you out, you roll over to watch the mare laying beside you gently rest.

Her gentle features are always so at ease when she sleeps beside you. With the exception of the terrible bed-mane, if you could remember this moment in time, you would take a mental snapshot and store it away forever. In fact, on second thought, you’d keep the bed-mane too. Just to make the memory feel more authentic.

But, then the nagging voice at the back of your head says that watching someone as they sleep is really creepy. Come on, Anon. Don’t be creepy.

So, you turn back over and let the cycle continue. Until, the alarm kicks in, as an overly cheery stallion announces his wacky morning greeting. The mare beside you begins to stir as you sit up in bed and dangle your feet off the edge.

“Morning already?” Autumn says groggily. “Can I get five more minutes?”

“Yeah. I’ll hit the shower first,” you say, hitting the snooze button. “Then it’ll be all yours.” 

She groans lightly, turns over, and passes right back out as you make your way to your bathroom. You flip on a light, close the door behind you as to not wake your marefriend, then examine yourself in the mirror.

Life, right now, is absolutely perfect. Or at least, it should be.

You remember a time when the biggest concern on your mind was that you didn’t know very many ponyfolk in this huge city. And now, you could argue that your problem is that you know too many. Or, at least, too many that clashed.

Now, when you go to work, you have to see the heartbroken Fluttershy, who didn’t respect the wishes of your arrangement and came onto you. And when you walk out for work on your apartment, you check in with Mulberry every morning just to make sure she was even getting out of bed. 

"Well,” you mutter to yourself. “It looks like I'm ready to start my day. For better or worse."

You give yourself a nice clean shave, hop through the shower, do your business, then before you know it, you hear a gentle tapping on the door behind you. You shudder for a moment, before Autumn peeks in.

“Almost done in there?” she asks. “I just realized what day it was.”

“Yeah,” you say, throwing a bath towel around your midsection. “It’s all yours”

You step out of the bathroom and Autumn steps in beside you, grazing a hoof against your leg. An involuntary smile crosses your lips as you look back at her with a hungry look in your eye.

“One of those mornings?” you ask deviously.

Autumn curls one edge of her lip before examining the damage of a night’s sleep on her mane.

“I wish, but we have to get cleaned up. Soon. We’re not the only ones getting up early today, remember?” she says before turning on the shower. “I hope you left some hot water…”

That’s when it hits you. Today is Mulberry’s first day back at her job. After the hospital and all the struggles of her personal life, she is finally heading back to the school to teach. There is only about four to six weeks of the school year left before they had Hearth’s Warming break, so hopefully the kids could take her seriously.

“Right! Right. I remember. Alright. Should we take breakfast over?”

“I took some of Saturday’s pancakes and wrapped them in the fridge,” she says before closing the bathroom door. “Now hurry up.”

B-but. Those were your pancakes. Your mind wanders longingly to the single helping of pancakes in the fridge. On the other hand, this is for Berry, so you suppose you can make the exception.

You throw on your slacks, white dress shirt, and your signature royal blue tie. Yes. Now you are complete. This is exactly what the doctor called for.

Work phone? Check. Wallet? Check. Id Card? Check. Monthly subway pass? Check.

You head into the kitchen, throw the pancakes in the microwave, then grab Autumn’s work clothes and set them by the bathroom door. At this point, there’s not much you can do but wait. 	You move to the window of your apartment and watch as the city traffic down below buzzes by in the light of the rising sun. 

And all you can wonder is… how in the world do they do it? How can they live with all of the stressful, frantic pains of everyday life. You’re about to go to a job where you have to dodge glances with your personal secretary to avoid her having another crying fit. You’re about to check on your neighbor, who also professed her love for you after she was beaten by an ex-stallion friend. Who you also turned down, by the way. And now you’re dating one of her best friends. 

You’d think after you found the love of your life, that would be it with a nice fancy bow on top, but life continues to go on nonetheless. Heck, you suppose that’s the irony. Fairy tales just end with ‘Happily Ever After’, and most stories even tie up most of their loose ends. Life never is quite that simple. 

“Well don’t you look handsome?” says the mare as she leaves the bathroom. You turn your head to watch as a gentle steam wafting out of the door behind her. “What’s got you all pensive?”

You pause to consider the way you want to answer her question, you bite your bottom lip as you look outside.

“I guess I’m just worried a little about Berry. It’s a big day for her.”

“Me too,” she says drying her mane with a towel. “But she’s a big filly now. We can only help her so much before she becomes dependent. She needs to get back on her own hooves.”

“I know,” you murmur, but knowing doesn’t remove her face from your mind. You aren’t sure if you’ll be able to remove the memory of her anger and hurt. And you certainly can’t take back the tears you made.

But this is what you wanted. You should be happy. Right?





You take a deep breath and knock on the apartment door in front of you. You look down at the plate of steaming pancakes in your hand, and think of the granola bar in your pocket.

This has gotta be some sort of torture, or something. 

“Think she’ll get up?” you ask Autumn.

She looks up at you with a look of concern that confirms you aren’t alone in your doubt.

“I want to believe she will.”

A quiet moment passes standing outside your neighbor’s apartment. Yet, just as you wonder if you should suggest that she might not be awake yet, you hear a lock click and slide on the other side. The door opens a crack and you see an eye peer out into the hallway. Then, inch by inch, the amethyst mare with a jet-black mane comes into view. She even did her hair up into a tight little bun. You clear your throat and stand up straight.

"Hey there neighbor! Heading for work?" you say cheerfully, holding out the tray of breakfast to you.

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!” Autumn says.

Mulberry smiles lightly and shakes her head.

“Thanks you two, but I already had a piece of fruit. You don’t have to-”

But then your mind cuts out the rest of the words because you have your beloved pancakes back. You grab the fork and instantly begin to shovel your face with Autumn’s cooking.

Oh God it’s like heaven on Earth. Erm. Equestria. Whatever.

“Anon!” Autumn raises her voice. “Those were for Berry!”

“But,” you say in defense, “She said she ate. I got permission! You can’t stand between a man and his pancakes. It’s just not right, Autumn.”

Your eyes move to Berry, who seems to smile at the exchange of playful banter. After the hospital, you and Autumn agreed to keep the affection in front of her to a minimum. It’s just polite. And, well, it allows the three of you to still stay somewhat normal. 

“Well, are you ready?” Autumn asks. “Big day today.”

“Yeah,” Berry says rubbing her hoof. “I think I’m ready to try and get back to something normal. And the kids won’t have to see me all bruised up and casted. This is good for everypony.” 

“Then, we have no time to lose,” you say. You quickly run back in your apartment, dump the plate in the sink, then rejoin the mares. The three of you walk to the elevator, hit the button, then step inside when the doors open.

A silence falls as the elevator climbs down towards the lobby. You take a moment to examine Mulberry, whose eyes are focused on the floor, rather than the space in front of her. You feel the need to say something, anything to bring her back up. You could compliment the hair bun, but you aren’t sure if the physical compliments would be bandages over the bigger issues. And those you can’t help with.

You open your mouth to say something, then the words get caught in your throat.

“The hair bun looks nice on you,” says Autumn. “What prompted the change?” 

Mulberry turned to Autumn, then thought to herself for a moment before answering.

“I suppose… it reminds me of when things were a little easier.”

With a gentle chime, the doors to the elevator opened wide and the three of you step out. 

“Well, nothing to it but to do it,” Mulberry says with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

“Do you want us to walk with you?” you ask, realizing Mulberry’s school was in the opposite direction of the subway station. Nevertheless, the mare smiles as she makes eye contact with you.

“No, I think I can handle this much, at least. This time, it will be the destination that’ll be hard. Not the journey.”

“That’s really cheesy,” says Autumn as Berry turns away.

“Call me Swiss then,” the mare calls back as she walks away.

“Have a gouda day!” you call off to her.

“I hope it goes cheddar than you hope!” Autumn says before Berry heads out the back way. Then, the two of you smile at each other and head out the front towards the subway station.





The doors of the subway train close as the two of you take your seats. 

“I gotta admit, that went better than I thought,” you say to her.

“Me too,” Autumn says with a smile. “But I’m not going to look a gift pup in the mouth.” 

“Yeah,” you say with a smile, trying to repress a chuckle. Some phrases in Equestria are still hard to get used to. 

The mare leans her body against you and hums happily as you wrap an arm around her. 

“Gonna be a rough day for you?” you ask Autumn, desperately trying to get your mind off work.

“Oh, you never know with the Library. I may have to make a few calls on some overdues. Maybe put some books back on the shelves. I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle the frantic pace,” she says teasingly.

“Jeez, tiger. Don’t go and become a workaholic on me,” you say. “They say that sort of work will change a pony.”

“I’ve seen some things, Anon,” she says in an overly-dramatic tone, waving a hoof. “I’ve seen spines torn right off of perfectly innocent books. And don’t get me started on the ones that went to war. Some never come back. And those that do, they might never turn the page again.”

“You’re full of jokes this morning,” you smile down at her. “What’s got you in such a great mood?”

Autumn hums happily to herself as she moves to meet your gaze.

“I guess I still just feel lucky,” she says. “I don’t know what I’ve done to earn somepony as wonderful as you.”

You feel your cheeks warm as you pull her closer to you.
“You’re sweet. And you’re silly if you don’t realize that I’m the lucky one in all of this.”

“Huh, yeah. I suppose so,” she says teasingly. 

You look down with a fake expression of shock, and she moves up and closes the gap to press her lips against yours. Just as quickly as the motion begins, it ends, just as a kitten would paw an unsuspecting bug.

“Do you realize we just met for the first time, on this very train, just a few months ago?” you ask her. “It feels so long ago.”

She hums happily and closes her eyes in contentment.

“If time had to either slow down or speed up while we’re together, I’d chose for it to slow down. If only that it meant we can spend more time together.”

“Someone’s in a romantic mood,” you say.

“Guilty as charged.”

A silent moment passes as the two of you sit side by side, simply holding each other and glowing with contentment. Sure, you catch the idle glance of the passengers of the train, whose eyes move about the car just to give themselves something to do, but you ignore their passing gaze. What matters right now is her. Her and you.

And you’re happy with that.

But all good things must come to an end, and so that is signaled by the slowing down of the subway car. You’re attention is snapped back to real life.

“What’s the plan for tonight?” you ask as she sits back up and grabs her bag.

“Not sure yet. I haven’t quite thought that far. If I decide to stop by-”

“I should probably just give you a key already,” you say with a smile. “Or you can bring over more of your things.”

She pauses, then looks up at you. Autumn smiles and nods.

“You sure that isn’t too fast?”

“You’re basically living at my place as it is, babe.”

“Yeah, but. I dunno. I mean, we’ve talked about this before. I-”

She pauses, then her gaze moves down to her hooves. Her ears flatten for just a moment, before they straighten up once more.

“I want to. I just don’t want to move too fast. You know?” she says with a pause. “I don’t want us to burn out.”

’Last Call for -Downtown Manehattan-’

“Of course, babe. That’s fine,” you rise to your feet and step out into the aisle. “It’s not a problem.”

“Is it really?” Autumn asks. “I’m not… disappointing you?”

“Of course not, love,” you smile. “Now let’s get to work before we’re both in trouble.”

Autumn smiles, her features and her ears relaxing as she rises to her hooves and follows you out of the subway car. The two of you move past the turnstiles, up the stairs and back up into the open air of the city where ponies bustle along the streets and sidewalks to work.

“I’ll just play it by ear then,” you say with a smile, leaning down. “Talk to you later, Autumn.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she says, placing a hoof against your cheek. She presses her lips against yours, and you raise a hand to the side of her face. Then she breaks away and straightens her posture.

“I love you,” you say to her.

“Love you too!” she calls back, turning in place and heading towards her work.

You turn to the building just off in the distance, and slowly feel the blood slowly chill in your veins. Your eyes move across the street, and you swear you see a flash of yellow. With a blink, you try to give the benefit of the doubt to your imagination and trudge forward.

The double doors to the office building open wide and you stroll into the sterile, citrus-orange smell of cleaning supplies and fresh post-it notes. You can already feel the life and fire draining from you. Such is monday. Such is life.

You take a deep breath and try to put on your best fake smile. It ends up being a creepy curl, so you decide to settle for a more stoic look. You cross the distance of the lobby, nodding to a few mares and stallions you recognize from the hallways and hit the elevator doors. As you pause, waiting for the doors, you see the familiar face you weren’t hoping to see. Fluttershy.

The yellow mare strolls into the lobby, taking step after careful step. Her ears are folded, her hair seems to have less volume and more lifeless, and when she looks up to the elevators, she makes eye contact with you. She freezes. Biting her bottom lip, she looks back down to her saddle bag, closes her eyes for a moment, then moves toward you.

You turn on the spot and press the elevator button another time. A gentle chime rings from one of the elevator doors and the stainless-steel moves aside. You move forward to enter, but a few of the early-birds step out of the elevator and out into the lobby. Once they clear you move inside, then turn on the spot to watch Fluttershy enter the elevator behind you.

“Good morning, Anon,” says Fluttershy quietly.

You do your best to repress a sigh of defeat as you press the button for the floor you share with her.

“Morning,” you answer politely.

The doors close, and the elevator sets in motion. The only sound that goes through the elevator is the sound of the quiet gears that propels the box upward. She clears her throat, but you keep your eyes front and center toward the door. You don’t have anything to say. Partially out of anger. Partially out of distrust. And partially that you just aren’t ready to approach this issue. Not just yet.

You’ve tried interviewing at different places. You really have. You’ve tried to escape, but it always comes back down to the core issue. You’re a human. You might as well be a monkey. You’re skilled, you’re experienced, and you’ve got wonderful charisma, but they’d rather choose a candidate that isn’t as ‘exotic’ of a species. You’d scream and yell in protest, but what can you do? It’s just the way it is.

The door chimes, and opens to your floor.

“Have a good day,” you say to Fluttershy.

She pauses, her ears flattening and her gaze moving to the floor.

“You too, Anon,” she says, the life in her voice draining. 

Fluttershy moves one hoof in front of the other and exits the elevator. You step out of the elevator and pick up the pace to move past her. Your feet carry you to your office, where you step inside and close the door behind you. You take a deep breath, move behind your desk and sit down.

Perhaps it’s unfair to be giving Fluttershy such a cold shoulder, but you honestly don’t feel that comfortable around her. What’s left to be said? You move your eyes to your computer screen, which is littered in post-it notes with Fluttershy’s handwriting. You pick off the first one and examine it.



9 A.M. meeting with Brand, then 10 A.M. Weekly Planning Session



You sigh, checking the clock. 8:55 already.  Well, at least a busy day is a quick day. You take a look at the rest of the post it notes for any new messages, but you don’t see any. This was the only way you knew if Fluttershy needed your help or attention. In fact, either this or email was the primary way that you or Fluttershy talked at work now. You realize that it’s kinda childish, but it’s the way things are.

Suddenly, you hear a knock on your door, and you raise your head.

“Heeeeya buddy,” says your boss, peeking his head in. “Nice weekend?”

“Nice, but not long enough,” you say, searching for a cup of coffee at your desk. Sadly, there is none. It’s too fucking early for this shit.

“I need to talk to you for a moment,” Brand says, stepping inside and closing the door.

You straighten up and scoot into the desk.

“You can keep the door open if you want,” you say with a false smile.

He frowns as the door gives a light click.

“Not for this,” he says calmly.

The stallion takes a labored breath and sits down across from you. You instantly feel a tenseness in your back as you fold your hands on top of your desk.

“What can I do for ya?” you ask patiently, knowing a bomb is likely about to drop. 

He looks down to the floor, then back up to you.

“Anon, you’re my friend,” he says, trying to keep the features in his expression flat, but a glossiness in his eyes betrays him. “But I’m getting pressured from upper management about, well. Budgets.”

“Alright,” you say, keeping your voice firm and even. But the reality is you just felt the pit of your stomach drop to the floor. Budget is always a bad sign. That means the company isn’t doing well. And when the company isn’t doing well.

Well, they have to lay off employees.

“Listen, I’m not doing anything right now,” Brand says. “And I’m not even supposed to be telling anypony about these yet. But they told us to begin doing metrics on performance for the last month. And, well, we have a problem.”

You nod, looking down to your desk. You’re not stupid. You can read between the lines. Things have been different since after the night happened. 

“Right.”

“I mean, you aren’t even talking to your secretary, man,” he says patiently. “You realize how that looks to the higher ups. And I have a target on my back for having. Well-”

“A human,” you finish the sentence for him.

He takes a deep breath, running a hoof through his mane and looking at the ceiling.

“I wish it were different,” he says. “But that’s only half of why I’m here.”

You groan, backing out of your seat and rising to your feet.

“Listen, man. If I’m fired just do it,” you say, staring at the wall. “Having a target on my back isn’t going to make my life any less stressful or make it easier on me.”

He shakes his head, placing a hoof on your desk.

“No, Anon. It’s not like that. I want to keep you. I really do. But I need proof that you’re worth keeping. I just got an extremely visible project passed down the line. And I want to put you at the head of it. You’ll get full credit if it’s a success.”

You place a hand to your forehead, crunching the bigger picture in your head.

“So, let me guess,” you say. “If I do well at this project. I get to keep my job.”

“Well, yours and your assistant’s hopefully,” he says.

You pause and turn back to him, your eyes wide. 

“Wait, are you saying if we don’t do well on this project, we’re both laid off.”

He shrugs to you.

“I’m going to be honest, Anon. Everypony higher up is being tight lipped. I don’t even know if I have my job still. This is all in confidence. You can’t tell anypony.”

“Jee, fucking thanks,” you groan. “Just what I needed.”

You recline back down into your desk chair and place your head in your hands.

“You and Fluttershy are going to have to work your plots off in order to get this thing done and do it right. But if you succeed, it makes all of us look good. I can help where I can, but it’s gotta be you guys first and foremost.”

With a deep sigh, you shake your head and straighten yourself back up in your chair.

“I know you and Fluttershy  have had… issues working together. But you’re just going to have to buck up and learn to work with each other. Alright?” he says. “For both of our jobs?”

He picks up a small binder of notes and sets it on your desk and rises to his hooves.

“I’ve come to you first, because I know you can do it, if you put your mind to it. And well, I wouldn’t trust anypony else with something that concerned my own job.”

You feel the weights already mounting down on your shoulders. You have to talk with Fluttershy? No. Work with her? Constantly? Maybe even do overtime? The two of you will have to work together to make some sort of friendship again.

Is there even room for that anymore?

“And if I don’t?” you ask.

He frowns, closing his eyes and shakes his head.

“That’s it?” you say. “I either don’t, and we both lose our jobs. Or we try, and give it one last shot.”

He looks down at you, placing his hand on the binder.

“Are you in or out, Anon?”

You could probably find a new job. Then again, finding a job as a human has been a nightmare. You can’t really live off of wages purely from Autumn. Especially at this point in the relationship. That would be… just wrong. And if it gets bad enough… you’d have to move back to Ponyville. Then what? Live with Twilight? 

There really isn’t a choice, is there?

Brand lifts the binder up an inch--

“Alright,” you sigh. “I’m in. What can you tell me about the project?”