One For The Archives

by ArtaFactia

Chapter One - BYOCV

With a sigh, she opened the newspaper to the classifieds, and her eyes began to scan the 'Help Wanted' heading.

Being an architect paid well — in fact it often paid handsomely — but only when there were commissions to be had. Arta wasn't hurting for money, given how little her needs and wants were, but it had been some time since her last architectural commission, and she would not let herself be an idle mare. Thus, her scrutiny of the classifieds section.

When commissions had been scarce in the past, she'd done such jobs as: construction foremare, proofreader, stenographer, secretary, archivist, librarian. Her extensive training in construction and architecture made her quite the handy mare; looking at her superficially, many didn't expect the quiet, retiring bespectacled mare to have such knowledge under her wings. The other jobs seemed more up her alley, and were preferable to her, since, aside from architecture, there was nothing she loved more than reading and writing. Books. Words. Words words words. She was both a fierce bibliophile and logophile, and would read just about anything she could get her hooves on; she'd read the ingredients on the cereal box as eagerly as she would read a captivating novel.

Her hoof stopped on a posting wedged in rather awkwardly at the bottom of the page. It read:

WANTED
Somepony extremely literate and with good organizational skills, and with some experience in archiving data, for an archival project of considerable size and import. Wage to be determined upon hiring. Bring a CV highlighting all relevant past work accomplishments to 173 Hoofton Road between 8 A.M. - 4 P.M. no later than the 27th of Celestus.

Her hoof and her eyes rested upon that posting for a good while, and she read it over several times. Working as an archivist was like a mixture of a librarian and a detective, and for her it was great fun. She could hardly turn down such an attractive offer. The vagueness about the wage would limit her competition, she thought. This position is in the bag...wait, what day is it? She quickly turned to look at the calendar hanging on the wall. It was the 27th of Celestus. Her eyes widened. She turned to look at the clock. 2:00 P.M. Her eyes widened further.

"Oh horseapples! Horseapples, horseapples, horseapples!" This is what she got for not checking the paper yesterday when it came. She had a scant 2 hours to write up her CV and rush over to Hoofton Road, which was on the outskirts of Seaddle. Thank Celestia for these wings of mine, she thought, they'll help me get there quicker and buy me some precious time! Arta burst out of her kitchen chair and soared upstairs to her study, intent on getting that CV done in 10 minutes flat.

* * *

Had she the raw processing speed of one of our modern computers, then 10 minutes would have been extremely easy, truly laughable. But 10 minutes turned into more than an hour of sifting through information, with the pegasus looking for the most relevant and impressive details to put into her CV. An hour and a half of organizing and agonizing left her with a neat, tightly written CV, a fairly impressive feat given how rattled she was. With only a half hour to go, she flew like a bat out of hell from her two-story house, flying high over the streets and buildings of Seaddle.

Even with her wings, the flight wasn't a short one, since she had to fly literally from one end of the city to the other. And to make matters worse, the Equestrian Kite-Fliers Convention was in town, and she had to land and proceed on hoof for the final stretch. She may have been in a hurry, but she had too much sense to try to navigate through a multitude of diving, weaving kites.

The buildings got more and more sparse along Hoofton Road, the distance between each increasing with each one she passed. 173 Hoofton Road turned out to be the very last building — of course it would be the last one, she groused — a freshly-built one story office. She burst in the door at precisely 3:58 P.M., collapsing at the hooves of a rather surprised unicorn mare.

"Oh! Are you all right?" She asked, helping Arta back onto her hooves. "You poor thing, you look fairly winded!"

"I...m-made it...CV..." She thrust forward her papers, her chest heaving as she fought to catch her breath.

"Ah! You're here about the archivist position. I'd thought that would be all for the day, but I'm sure I can conduct one more interview, given the circumstances. Come, come, let's head over into my office. Would you like some tea? You look like you could use a spot of tea. Any milk or sugar?"

"S-sure...yes, I'd like some tea. Straight, no milk or sugar, thank you. Um...so there were other ponies who applied for the position?" She asked, biting her lip. She had hoped to be the only one, but she knew that that was rather unrealistic; there were plenty of other ponies in Seaddle who would have similar qualifications and who would jump at the chance to get this position.

"Yes, there were a few, about four or five came throughout the day. There have been some good prospects among them." The unicorn caught the look of disappointment in Arta's eyes, and she gently patted the pegasus' shoulder. "I've a good feeling about you, though...provided you're generally more punctual than today would suggest."

"Yes, I am quite punctual, for the most part. But everypony is late sometime, even if they don't wish to be. Today just happened to be one of those days." She took a seat in the chair facing the desk as the as-yet-unnamed unicorn poured a cup of sweet-smelling tea, handing it to her. Arta took a sip, and a delightful sweetness bloomed across her tongue, the hot liquid warming her mouth and throat and settling her nerves.

"Good to hear. My client appreciates punctuality. Now, let's get the introductions out of the way. My name is Sweet Peach," she said with a smile, gesturing to her peach-coloured coat, "and it is a pleasure to meet you, Miss..." She glanced at Arta's CV, then back up at the pegasus. "...Miss Arta Factia."

"Likewise!" Arta replied cheerfully, doing her best to focus on Sweet Peach. Whatever this tea was, it seemed to have a rather soporific effect, and she fought down a yawn, turning it into an awkward grin. Sweet Peach returned the smile, then began to read through Arta's CV, muttering quietly to herself. Arta fidgeted a little out of nervousness, hoping that what Sweet Peach saw was acceptable, and enough to guarantee her the position over the other applicants.

"Mmm...your accomplishments are rather impressive, Ms. Factia. I dare say that this CV trumps the others!" Arta beamed back at the unicorn, obviously delighted with the compliment. Her smile was wide, but her eyes were drooping. They felt as heavy as concrete blocks, and it was an effort just to keep them up. "Our queen chose well. You won't disappoint her."

"H-huh...queen?" She mumbled, her voice slurred. She tried to fight the oncoming tide of sleep, but it just got stronger with every passing second, threatening to overtake her. It was painfully obvious that the tea had been drugged...but why? She slumped in the chair, and then began to slide off of it, only to find herself falling into Sweet Peach's hooves. "Wha...h-help..." Arta mewled softly, her muscles relaxing to the point that she could barely move them.

"Shhhhh." Sweet Peach gently ran her hoof through Arta's mane as she hugged her close. "Relax...sleep...no harm will come to you...you're safe..." Arta let out another whimper and nuzzled her, the unicorn's soft warmth only urging her onwards to slumber.

And then all went black.

Comments

[Razzy]

That's one way to expedite the recruitment process.