Tough Times
A knocking sound echoed through an old apartment. The apartment wasn't anything special. Two bedrooms, one bathroom, a small kitchenette, a short hallway, and a small living room with a couch and small T.V.
It had a shaggy look to it, but it was relatively clean. A girl with orange, bushy hair, wearing an oversized Tee shirt and shorts rose up from the couch, and gave the door a look of death. She thought about not answering the door, but decided to go to it anyway, not having anything better to do.
If anything, she could yell at whoever was on the other side for disrupting her, not that she was doing anything special. She sluggishly walked over to the door, and swung it open, intending on giving the intruder a verbal beating, but stopped when she seen it was her Landlord, Filthy Rich.
"Ms. Dazzle." Filthy Rich began. "I have noticed that you haven't paid your rent ever sense you first moved in, which was two years ago."
Adagio rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, we've ran into hard times."
"For two years in a row?" Filthy Rich asked, raising an eyebrow. "I am tolerant to a late payment, but this is just ridiculous."
Adagio thought about singing to get out of paying, but realized she no longer had her pendent, and cursed herself silently. "I know its ridiculous, but we just need more time."
"I am giving you three days to pay this month's rent. If you fail, I will have to evict you."
"Evict?!" Adagio asked in shock. "Three days?! We need more time than that!"
"You've had two years, Ms. Dazzle. I am being nice by giving you more time." Filthy Rich then turned around, and walked away. "Good day, Ms. Dazzle."
Adagio gritted her teeth, and slammed the door. She walked back into the living room, cursing along the way. This wouldn't of happened if they won the battle of the bands, and the stupid Rainbooms hadn't destroyed their pendants.
She rubbed the place on her neck where her beautiful, red gem used to be, half-expecting it to be there. Three days? How were they going to possibly make enough money by then?
She hated the thought that followed, almost as much as she hated the Rainbooms. They would have to get jobs, or at least Her and Aria. Sonata couldn't get a job if her life depended on it, and in this situation, it pretty much did.
"SONATA!" Adagio shouted. "ARIA! GET IN HERE!"
Aria and Sonata soon walked into the living room, Sonata wearing pajamas, and Aria wearing blue jeans and a black Tee shirt.
"What do you want, Adagio?" Aria asked. "I was in the middle of thinking of different ways to kill someone."
"You can think about that later." Adagio said, pointing a finger. "We need to get jobs, now!"
"What's the matter?" Sonata asked. "Did something happen?"
"A lot of things happened." Adagio pointed out. "Our Landlord came by and said we have three days to pay for this month's rent, or we get evicted."
"Well, let me just add that to my list of things that suck." Aria said sarcastically. "Just how are we suppose to get paid before the end of the three days?"
Adagio quickly looked to the calender on the wall, and back to Aria. "Most jobs pay their employee's on Friday. Today's Wednesday. If we can get jobs today, we will get a half-week's pay check. It won't be much, but put together, it will be just enough to pay the rent."
"Great plan, Adagio." Aria rolled her eyes. "And what if we DON'T get jobs? What if they don't hire us? Whats your backup plan?"
"Just put on make-up, look pretty, and be nice. We'll get hired."
Aria sighed. "Even though I highly doubt this will work, I will try."
"This goes for you too, Sonata. Even though I doubt you can get a job, I want you to try anyway."
"I can get a job!" Sonata snapped back. "I'm just as ma... matu... oh crap, what's the word?"
Aria began to rub her temples. "Its 'Mature', Sonata. I swear, you're just, the worst!"
"You are!"
"ENOUGH!" Adagio shouted, stomping her foot. "We won't get anywhere arguing! Now, get some clothes on, and start job searching!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Adagio walked the streets of Canterlot, looking for any place that would be hiring. Normally, she would have standards if she was getting a job. Scratch that, she wouldn't normally get a job.
But, drastic times calls for drastic measures. Right now, she was willing to work anywhere. She hated that she thought like that, but she knew it was necessary.
She looked around her surroundings, seeing multiple restaurants and stores, but the ones she would rather work at were not hiring. She groaned loudly in aggravation, causing the people she was passing to look at her. She just simply ignored them, and continued to walk.
Finally, she seen some place that was hiring. She looked up at the sign that read 'Oinker's', and groaned once more. Really? This was the only place that was hiring?
She hoped Sonata and Aria were having an easier time, because if they were, she was going to quit this job as soon as the rent was paid. She walked inside, and went up to a fat man, that was bald headed, had hairy arms, and a small moustache on his upper lip at the counter.
"Welcome to Oinker's! Can I take your order, pretty lady?" The man asked in an over-happy attitude.
"Actually, I'm looking for a job." Adagio said, trying to be polite.
"Huh, someone's actually replying. Alright, take an application and fill it out." The man said, sliding a white piece of paper to her.
Adagio looked at the application in confusion, trying to read the directions. The only thing she could understand, was where is was asking for her name. She took a pen out of her pocket, and wrote her name across the top.
She then attempted to understand the rest of it, but she truly couldn't. This aggravated her, but she kept a cool head. Even though she wanted to rip the application to pieces and burn the whole restaurant to the ground.
About five minutes later, the man turned back to Adagio.
"So, you think you've got what it takes to be a burger waitress?" The man asked, but didn't give her a chance to reply. "Lets see the application."
Adagio slid the application to the man, and he looked it over before looking back to Adagio.
"Its blank..." The man said in confusion. "Well, you got what it takes to be a burger waitress."
Adagio was insulted by this, but held a strained smile. "T-Thanks."
The man then held up his phone, and aimed it at Adagio.
"Smile!" The man said.
Adagio did, and a flash went off from his phone.
"So, what was that for?" Adagio asked.
"That was a before picture!"
"B-b-before picture?!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Who's bright idea was this?" Aria asked, standing outside of a fast food restaurant.
The restaurant looked like any other. Large windows in the front, glass double-doors, advertisement of the food it sold, and a large sign on top that held the restaurant name, 'Burgerville'. Aria sighed heavily before walking inside, and went up to the front counter, where a teenage boy, who was obviously a High School drop-out, was standing.
"Welcome to Burgerville, can I take your order?" The boy asked, breathing heavily.
"I'm actually here for the job." Aria said, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, then you need to speak to the manager." The Boy said, pointing his thumb to the back. "I'd show you to his office, but I'm not allowed to leave the counter."
"Its fine." Aria said, holding one hand up. "Just tell me where its at."
"Well, you go around the counter, and to the right. Its the only door there."
Aria turned her head, and seen the door he was talking about. "You couldn't of just pointed to the door right there?"
"I didn't think about it."
Aria resisted the urge to ram her palm into her forehead, as it would most likely cause brain injury at the level of strength she wanted to use. Aria walked around the counter, and went to the door before knocking. Soon, a tall man, wearing the restaurant's uniform opened the door.
"Hello, are you here about the job?" The man asked.
"Yeah." Aria said. "I'll cut to the chase. I need a job, you need an employee. So you just give me the job, and we'll both be happy."
The man raised an eyebrow, but couldn't hold back his grin. "Well, you definitely have spirit. Come in and fill out your application. We'll do a short interview, and you can get started if I see you'll be fit."
"Its a cashier at a restaurant," Aria said, showing no emotion. "How hard can it be?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sonata skipped happily down the street, passing by many stores and restaurants with 'Help Wanted' signs on them, but she ignored them. She was looking for a specific place she liked to go to, but it always seemed to have different employees every time she went. For the life of her, she couldn't understand why.
But, she didn't care. It was a happy place where kids could be kids, and it had fun robots in animal suits, silly guys in costumes, and a silly guy who did magic tricks for the kids! Why wouldn't she want to work there?!
Soon, she found the building she was looking for. It had many different colors all over it, the doors looked like they were made of cheese, and the building sign was upside down. If Sonata stood on her head, she could clearly see it said 'Discord's Place'.
But last time she stood on her head to read it, she kept losing her balance. So, instead of trying that again, she skipped inside and looked for the silly magician guy. She found him pulling a slice of pizza out of some kid's ear, so she went up to him.
"Mr. Magician Guy!" Sonata said, getting his attention.
"Sonata, I told you, my name is Discord." Discord said, still smiling. "What can I do for you today?"
"I'm actually looking for a job." Sonata said. "Dagi and Ari are mad because we might get evicted, so we are all looking for jobs. Stinks, I know."
"Oh my. Eviction is never fun." Discord said, letting his smile drop, but he quickly picked it back up off the floor. "In fact, the most un-fun part about it is the packing. But lucky for you, I have your application right here!"
Discord reached into Sonata's ponytail, and pulled out a piece of paper. She clapped happily and hopped in place.
"So, I'm hired?!" Sonata asked, excitedly.
"Almost. I always have a test for all my employees." Discord turned around, and looked at a bull's eye on the wall with a hole in the middle. "I need you to reach into that hole, and pull out whatever is inside."
"Um... okay?"
Sonata walked up to the bull's eye, and reached for the hole. But before her hand could enter, something stopped her. No, it wasn't her consciousness, nor did someone grab her hand.
It felt like the hole wasn't really there, but she could clearly see it. So she tried again, only to get the same results. She tried again, and again, and again, until she was repeatedly ramming her hand against the hole.
When she heard laughing behind her, she stopped and turned around to see Discord rolling around on the floor, holding onto his sides in laughter.
"It gets them every time!" He laughed.
"I don't get it..." Sonata said, shrugging.
"No one ever does." Discord said, wiping a tear out of his eyes and standing up. "You have the job. You passed the test."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at Oinker's, Adagio was wearing an mustard stained apron, had a note-pad in one hand, and a pen in the other. She stood by the counter, next to the Manager.
"Okay, as a burger waitress, all you have to do is take their orders, give it to me, I'll cook the food, and you give it to whoever ordered it. Then, once they're done eating, you go back, give them their receipt, and they will give you money. Easy enough?"
"No, its the hardest thing in the world." Adagio said sarcastically. "Of course it's easy!"
"Good, then get started."
Adagio looked around the room, and took notice to one man that just arrived, who was looking over the menu. She walked up to the man, and tapped on the table to announce herself.
"Welcome to Oinker's, what's your order?" Adagio said unenthusiastically.
had
"Isn't it, 'Welcome to Oinker's, can I take your order, please'?" The man asked, apparently a regular.
"What? You expect us to say that same stupid line every time? Do you think we're robots or something?" Adagio asked, waving her pen around. "Just tell me what you want."
"Um... okay then. I'll take the Oinker Big Burger, medium Sack of Fries, medium Guzzler Soda, and three ketchup packets."
Adagio wrote down the order, then turned on her heels.
"I'll be back in a couple of minutes with your order." Adagio said, walking back up to the counter. Once she reached the counter, she handed the order to the Manager. "Okay, here's an order."
"Excellent!" The manager said, taking the order. "He's a regular, so I've already got his order ready."
"Yeah, I kinda figured that." Adagio said, rolling her eyes.
"But be careful. He likes to pick on the newbies." The manager pointed out, giving Adagio a small wink.
"What do you mean?" Adagio asked.
"I think you'll figure it out."
The Manager turned around, and grabbed a plate with a Soda. He handed it to Adagio, and she began to make sure everything was there. Oinker Big Burger, medium Sack of Fries, medium Guzzler Soda, and three ketchup packets, yeah its all there.
So, Adagio made her way back to the man she got the order from, and set the plate and drink in front of him. The man observed the plate carefully, then looked back to Adagio.
"This isn't what I ordered." The man said.
Adagio's eye twitched. "What do you mean, its not what you ordered?"
"I ordered a Double Oinker Cheese Burger, a small Sack of Fries, a large Guzzler Soda, and three mustard packets."
"No, this is what you ordered." Adagio took her notepad and showed it to the man. "See?"
The man looked at the notepad for a moment, but still, he shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Miss. This isn't what I ordered."
Adagio's eye began to twitch violently. "Well then," Adagio then took the burger, ripped it in half, placed it on the man's head, and poured the drink over it. "Its on the house."
Satisfied with what she has done, she walked away from the man, and went back to the Manager.
"Ms. Dazzle!" The manager said, with his mouth agape. "What did you do?!"
"He said that wasn't what he ordered, so I proved him wrong."
"Didn't I tell you he likes to pick on the newbies?!"
Adagio thought back, and winced slightly.
"Well... uh..."
"Adagio, YOU'RE FIRED!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At Burgerville, things weren't going any better. Aria had to stand at a counter, in front of a cash register, and take people's order's, take their money, and she wasn't even aloud to keep it.
She wore a stupid black polo shirt, and a stupid black cap, like she was a part of a stupid baseball team. She was bored, and she couldn't do anything to fix that. All she could do, was take the order, take the money, and give back any change.
At least, this was the repetitive action fifteen minutes ago. A tall, skinny, big nosed idiot was at the front of the line, looking at the menu and rubbing his chin. It felt like he has been standing there for hours, and Aria wanted nothing more than to make his big nose swell bigger in a single punch.
"Have you decided what you want yet?" Aria asked, keeping her head propped up on the counter with her hand.
"No, not yet." The idiot said. "There is so much to choose from."
Aria allowed her head to fall and land on the counter with an audible thud.
"Why, oh why, didn't you decide what you wanted before you got here?!"
"I didn't know what you sold."
Aria groaned, then picked her head up to see the line building up. "You know, your making a lot of hungry people wait while your dumbass stands up here, not even knowing what you want!"
"Hold on, hold on, I think I almost know what I want."
Aria's eye twitched, and her mouth hung open. "Why didn't you look at the menu when you were at the back of the line?!"
"I didn't think about that."
"You're a special kind of stupid, aren't you?" Aria growled. "Its like dealing with Sonata!"
The idiot raised an eyebrow. "Did you just call me a girl?"
"I've called you a dumbass three times, and you get offended when I call you a girl?!"
"I don't have to take this!" The idiot said, walking away.
"Good, leave! No one will miss ya! Get hit by a car on your way out!"
Right after Aria's small rant, she heard someone clearing their throat behind her. Her pupils shrunk, and she turned around to see her boss behind her, who didn't look pleased.
"Let me guess, I'm fired." Aria said, showing no emotion.
"You're smart."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At first, Sonata loved the fact that she got the job. She got to wear tan dress pants, a red and white vest, and clown shoes! She was allowed to get anything from the salad bar if she wanted, she could play the arcade games, and dance with the draconequus mascot (Who looked strangely familiar to her)... as long as she was on break.
For the rest of the time, she had to keep the kids under control, keep them fed, and tend to their every need. It was like dealing with a hundred spawns of evil. They kept pulling her hair, puking all over the place, knocking things over as they ran around, and fighting.
Sonata has tried to keep it under control for hours, and was nearing her end when she felt a tugging on her pants leg. She turned to see a little boy, looking up at her.
"Hello?" Sonata said, trying to look more calm than she actually was. "Can I help you, little boy?"
"Where's the..." The Little Boy stopped for a moment. "Where's the...."
"The?" Sonata asked, cocking an eyebrow when his face turned green.
The boy's mouth popped open, and a stream of yellow puke came flying out of his mouth, landing on Sonata's lap. Sonata screeched and threw her arms into the air, trying to avoid touching the puke. Her pupils shrank as she stared at a piece of pepperoni that was sticking on her thigh.
"I'm sorry." The Boy said, slowly backing away from Sonata.
"I... I can't take it any more... I CAN"T TAKE IT ANY MORE!"
Sonata started stomping away, resisting the urge to throw the pants off. She made her way to Discord's office, and swung the door open, startling him.
"Uh... Sonata?" Discord asked, observing her messy hair, slightly ripped vest, broken name-tag, ruined mascara, and puke covered pants. "What happened to you?"
"Well, lets see here." Sonata said. "You immediately hired me, and threw me to the side for miniature sources of evil, called children, to get me!"
"I thought you loved children?" Discord asked.
"I love PLAYING with them, not looking after a hundred of them. Where were their parent's anyway?!"
"Yeah... about that. Parents leave their children here a lot when they have no one to babysit them. We've tried to stop it, but we can't."
Sonata dropped her jaw, but quickly shook it off.
"You know what? No. I quit." Sonata said, throwing her vest onto Discord's desk.
"Yeah, I can't blame you. You'll still come back sometime, right?"
"Duh, I love this place!"
That was fun, and didn't take as long to write as I expected. If you read my blog post, I said you could expect it to be up before or on Friday. Well, it's before Friday, and its up!
I've re-read this thing three times, making sure there wasn't anything misspelled, worded wrong, or anything. Still, if you see any mistakes, let me know and I will fix it as soon as possible!
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Sonata's job XD.
You meant "allowed".
Orders. You wanted the plural, not a possessive.
You meant "choose". You've got the past tense there rather than the present.
All that aside, this isn't bad. And I do feel sorry for the Dazzlings, even if they kinda deserved it.
5698712 Thank you, the corrections have been made
.
5698749 Not a problem.
As someone who currently works in a daycare, Sonata's job has my stamp of authenticity. I can almost smell it.
I think you mean "once THEY'RE done eating" and "Of course IT'S easy". But good job!
As the co-author, I am really liking the feed back. Thank you.
5700346 Thank you, the corrections have been made.
I feel like Adagio was fired way too quickly, that guy was her first customer (then again, insulting your first customer isn't a good idea). The manager could have just told him that he's an
hole because he tells lies then expects people not to believe them c:
5704076 Very true, but getting temperamental with your customers is the best way to get fired on the first day. Thats what I said to Thunder when he brought it up
Very good job! I very much enjoyed this chapter. An excellent way to capture the reader's attention. We see that the Dazzlings are fairing off as well as some would expect. In fact, things are far worse as they are about to be homeless. And even though they found jobs, keeping them is another matter. Now we'll see how things turn out once those three days are up. Even though they did do some bad thing, being homeless ins't a pretty sight to see on anyone. Really good job my friend. Looking forward to reading more.
This is a great representation of all three of the sirens! i've seen it all to often where sonata gets dumbed down so much that she can barely survive, but you pull her off wonderfully.
Does anypony else have problems not imagining this happen literally?
5698749 how dos this not have more likes? (all of my likes take them)
Hole? I don't get it.
In which the Sirens learn that being supervillains is an absolutely rubbish preparation for a career in the service industry (a sector where smiling at complete and utter creeps and calling them 'sir' or 'ma'am', no matter how repellent they are, is a minimum requirement).