Friendship is Failure #7: All Work and No Play

by DakariKingMykan

Act 3: Being or Acting Nice

ACT THREE

The next day, Twilight and friends met at the same restaurant for breakfast, all six of them still feeling badly about last night, or rather more concerned. “I’ve never seen so beat before.” said Applejack “Sure, I get tired after workin’ in the field all day, but that ain’t no excuse to be a grump.”

Twilight agreed, “And the way he just brushed us all off to work. I don’t think he got much sleep either. It’s like he hasn’t had any fun or done anything relaxing or enjoyable in fifteen years!”

Pinkie gasped extremely hard.

“No fun…?! NO FUN…?!! THIS IS AN EXTREME CATASTROPHE!!” she screamed, which made every pony in the restaurant look her way and the others felt embarrassed. “Sorry, but… I can’t even go five minutes without doing something fun or funny.” She demonstrated by pulling out a cream buy and then burying her face in it, making herself look goofy. “I can’t bear the fact that some pony hasn’t had any fun for so long.”

The group began to feel that maybe there was more to Bill Dollar than just feeling hurt and betrayed by his family, as well as all that hard work and no play routine of his.

“Somehow we’ve got to talk to him again.” Twilight suggested.

“But how?” asked Rainbow “He wasn’t up for having visitors, and only employees and clients can make appointments with him.”

Twilight’s head perked up, “That’s it! Rainbow, you’re a genius!”

“I am?”

Soon, the plan was all fixes; Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash signed up to be employees to the company, and were put to work in the shipping department.

The foreman pony gave them the basic instructions, “You take them bottles, you box ‘em, and you ship ‘em. Simple as pie… piece of cake… any questions?”

The three ponies shook their heads.

“Great. Now get goin’!”

“Whoa! Somepony needs a vacation.” said Rainbow.

“Never mind, let’s get to work.” said Applejack and she set off to skillfully package and box all the loads of bottled drinks into the crates, and Pinkie stamped each one… with a pogo-stick. “Whee-hoo, this is fun.”

“Um, I thought we were supposed to be trying to get closer to Bill Dollar and learn more about him?” asked Rainbow.

“And we can by workin’ for him.” said Applejack “Now come on, shake a leg.”

Rainbow sighed, and but complied, and set off to work shipping the boxes.

Meanwhile, Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy planned to pose as clients and actually booked a lunch meeting with Bill Dollar, in hopes of speaking to him directly to get to the root of his ways.

However, so he wouldn’t recognize them from the night before, they all wore fashionable outfits and did their manes up in well-groomed styles, and all three of them wore spectacles to appear more as business-ponies.

“I really don’t think I like this idea.” Fluttershy whimpered.

“Darling you look just fine, try to maintain your character for this.” Rarity said.

“Shh, here he comes.” Twilight said.

Bill Dollar came to the table and sat down at the head of the table in front of them all. He looked very much overworked for it only being around midday. “Ladies…” he complimented gruffly but calmly. “Please excuse my attitude; I was working late last night. Didn’t sleep well…”

Then he took at good strange look at the ladies, “You all look familiar to me.”

Twilight, disguising her voice, “Oh, um… I’m sure you’re just seeing things. You do work rather hard.”

Despite the weirdness, Bill brushed it off and commenced with the meeting.

Meanwhile, the other employees were astonished by the three newbies. Thanks to Applejack’s strength and skill, Rainbow’s speed, and Pinkie’s wacky but effective ways of stamping and loading, all the shipments for the day were finished and loaded much faster than usual.

“Whew! I didn’t think we’d ever get that done.” groaned Rainbow. “Well, at least the workday’s over.” panted Pinkie, but she spoke too soon as the foremen came in and instructed every-pony, “Okay every-pony… let’s get started on tonight’s shipment!”

That’s when a whole fresh load of packed drinks and shipping were loaded in and the employees were told to get right back to work, much to the three friends’ dismay.

Even Applejack, a pony who loved working hard, found this a bit much. “I don’t get it, why would Bill Dollar be so cruel to his employees like this?” she asked aloud.

One of the employees, a tan pony with a brown mustache heard her and said, “Actually, Bill Dollar’s the most generous pony you’d ever meet in Las Pegasus.”

The friends were astonished. “That grumpy grouch…?” Rainbow said. Pinkie and Applejack covered her mouth, not wanting her to badmouth their new boss, but the other pony chuckled, “It’s okay, every-pony on the force knows it. We all call him a grump or a grouch. It’s the truth.”

Now the friends were confused. “But you just said he was the most generous pony.” said Pinkie.

The other pony nodded and explained everything…

While at the same time, the business meeting went well at the restaurant, and still Bill didn’t suspect a thing. Only, he didn’t seem to order much food or eat much, as he seemed more distracted by the meeting and the business deals.

When it came time to pick up the cheque, Bill gracious handed the server a large wad of cash, “Keep the change.”

The friends were astonished, but not as much as the server that he gave that much money. “Sir, I don’t know what to say.”

“Just go!” grumbled Bill, and the server went off.

Rarity, in her disguised voice, said “I believe she was merely trying to thank you for that act of generosity.”

“It doesn’t matter to Me.” said Bill “She has work to do and so do I.”

Fluttershy asked, “Um… sorry to ask this, but… well… um…”

“Out with it!” snapped Bill, almost frightening her out of her disguise. “…Is this how you treat those who try to be nice to you?” Twilight asked in Fluttershy’s stead.

Bill confessed “I wasn’t being nice, I was just being generous. I’ve made many donations, and I don’t have to act kind or be smiling to give others what they need. That’s something I learned through years of hard work and no play. It doesn’t matter to me how I behave to others, as long as they get what they want… and that’s all that matters.”

The friends could hardly believe what they were hearing. Then again it was what they really came to find out.

“Is that all you ever do, is just work?” asked Twilight.

“Surely you must have other things that take your interest.” added Rarity.

“Don’t you have… any friends… or family?” Fluttershy stammered.

Bill was really starting to become annoyed by these clients and their peeping into his personal ways, especially for bringing up such a painful memory of his family. “I have no time or interest in such things, and I don’t need them.” he stated “Such things get in the way of success and valuable business. If others want to express themselves, let them do it through work! That’s all it ever comes down to.”

The friends were beyond speechless.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Bill said as he got up to leave “I’ll contact you when your shipment arrives.” then he was gone, leaving the friends concerned and somewhat horrified by what they had learned.

While back at the shipping plant, the other friends were told the exact same things from their fellow worker. “You see the boss is pretty generous. He may be a grouch, but hey… no one really complains. We all get what we want, and he’s not really hurting anyone. You don’t need to cuddle others to help them. Of course a lot of us think differently... but, hey... what works."

The friends stood aghast by what they had been told, and were only snapped out of it when the foremen shouted, “Hey, you… get to work already!”

So, they complied, but the three friends felt this was more serious than they thought.

Comments

[Pete100]

How much are they getting paid?