From behind the curtain

‘well here goes nothing.’ I thought as I walk inside trying to be as quiet as possible to drop these off at the break room. From there, go over the one article a few more times at my desk and see if I could make anything out of the other stories that I picked up along the way.
“Truth! Don’t tell me those are Joe’s Donuts.” yells somepony whose name eludes me.
“Yep. They are…help yourself”
“You are a life saver. I got all caught up in work and forgot all about lunch.” He says snatching two out of the box before I could set it down on the break table.
“Mmmm… those otha franchise shops got nuthin on Joe’s” he says with mouth full of donut.
“Well I got to get back to my desk and get some article wrapped up. Enjoy those donuts…and save some for everypony else”

Donuts taken care of, now the tricky part getting to my desk. I go as softly and nonchalantly as possible staring straight ahead. I don’t see Mr. Breaker in his office, well at least my periphial verison doesn’t see him. Whew. I feel good, now just to get to my cubical. Every hoofstep closer I feel better, nearing the corner I couldn’t begin to tell you m relief.
“Truth!” I hear from behind me. My joy and optimism were replaced by dread and despair.
“Mr.Breaker, how’s it going” I ask turning around to see him.
“Could you be so kind to come into my office?”
“Ok.”

I follow him into his office and regain my inner composure. I automatically sit on the same chair as before. The folder and clipboard that had been on the table, are now gone. They had probably been moved into one of those cavernous drawers in the desk that who knows how many trees died for its production.
“So let’s see what you got.”
“I was only coming here to drop off some donuts and grab some stuff from my desk.”
“I did say don’t come back without a front page story, right?”
“Yes”
“Do you not have anything?”
“I got a couple, but”
“Quit stalling and just break them out.”
“Well here are the notes and here’s my story on Joe’s Donut shop selling over a million donuts. I snapped a few pictures.”

I pass him the pad with all the loose papers and the Donut story on top. He looks over all of it nodding and making some noises, sometimes barely reading the story out loud.
“I like it”
“You do.”
“Yeah it’s a nice little local piece. Not sure if it’ll be front page material, unless it’s a slow day, plus I’ll have to see how those shots come out.”
“So…”
“Good job. I see that it’s not that important of a story, but the way you wrote it, it seems happy, while giving a lot of information about history of it and gives some insight into Joe. It’s a very nice article. Your other articles just show too much of the nitty-gritty of things, nopony really cares for that. Now that I think about it, it’s the same style of your other articles… you just had a better subject to cover”
“What about my job here?”
“Oh. That… you’re on thin ice till told otherwise. Take my advice to heart, happy feel-good stories or change your style on the other stories. Anything else?”
“I left some of Joe’s Donuts in the break room.”
“Ew… No. I shouldn’t… but it is in celebration of Joe’s success. Maybe just one. What the wife and doc don’t know won’t hurt, right?”
“Right” I replied. I forgot he had been put on a diet. ‘Poor stallion.’ I thought at that.
“Don’t hang around here if you don’t need to, I’ll send this up. Go out find more stories.”
“Thanks sir.”

I leave the company saddle bag by the chair and leave his office. I trot back to my cubical straighten up and take my saddle bag. Early day… not one to look a gift horse in the mouth I check my desk… it’s clean and I leave the office. I trot around for a bit with still no more stories. I just enjoy the sights and shops. I don’t buy anything other than some snacks and drinks, with my job in this questionable status I can’t afford to spend fivarluously.
‘Happy stories got to find some more’

I just remembered the talent show, It’s at a local school at seventeen or eighteen hundred. I might as well check it out, since got nothing else going on and I may as well get a jump ahead on “feel-good’ articles. Not what I wanted to do when I got into the feidl of journalism, but got to do what it takes to make the bits to pay the bills. I’m sure that a younger more idealistic me would be disappointed in me; but he’d still wind up as me so whatever joke would be on him.

I wind up at some mom and pop restaurant, which had an amazing house salad garnished with some of the finest tasting flowers. Initially I thought the floral accessories were just for presentation, but I was stunned. I start writing about the salad; the comfortable seating; how the room looked with it’s aged wooden beams, aged photos of Canterlot and ponies from who knows when; the solid oak table. I got so carried away with the details that I was startled when my waitress asked me if anything was wrong. I merely explained that I was practicing for writing an article and then she went into a whole spiel about the place. I calmed her down and said that it might be a possibility that it’d get into the paper, not a definite. I then went on to tell her that I am not a food critic, which took some wind out of her sails. She talked on and on about everything, by the time she was done talking I think I had written over four thousand words. I finished off my meal tipped, paid and thanked them.

Arriving at the talent show a few minutes before it began, I eyed the crowd for any coworker. I’d hate to be competing with any of them for the same story. Not only am I lower on the totem pole then them, but now I know Mr. Breaker loathes my writing style. With my fear of othe takers on this out of the way, I talk to a few ponies taking their opions. The show starts with some fun skits; moves onto some bands, which are really good considering their age; and ends with some dancing. I take pictures of each act and the winner was the band that sung spot on. I get some more statements and talk to the winners.
I trot out of the school and into the crisp early fall night. There’s still a hint of summer in the air with the warm breeze that accompanies me through the sparsely populated streets. I feel good about today, probably the best being that I don’t have to worry so much about work right now. There almost seems to be a warm cool blue glow on the buildings as I pass them, getting closer to my abode, I just chalk that up to my inner feelings being expressed on my surroundings.
I unlock the door and trot into the darkness of my home. I’m not much on for abusing candles, oil or lights when I got my magic. I flare up a few energy lights, bathing everything in some nice blue light. The floors creak slightly as I trot over to the stairs with one energy light ball , while the other fade away as I pass them.
I go into my room and walk up to a runic stone on the wall. Ever since being a foal, I’ve had the nightmares, sometimes they were so bad I would wake up screaming. My parents took me to doctors and there wasn’t much they could do for me. My parents had resorted to buying these magic stones which almost silenced the noise coming from inside of the room, out. The only maintenance they required was some magical recharge every so often and right now they were looking low. I go about filing them up and I flop to the bed. I think of today’s events and try to relax. Work is going to be a bit harder with what Mr. Breaker had said, but I need to keep making the bits and somehow get more articles in. I pull out the camera from the saddle bag thinking about what to take pictures of, so can finish the roll and get it developed. I settle on just waiting for the magic inked papers coming back to me tomorrow. Thinking of that I reach in for my notebook. I check the other side of the bag. Now, I start freaking out. I know that I had it with me today. I recall the events. Shoot, I left it on my desk, but I checked my desk. I calm down and tell myself that I had just left it in the drawer or under something. I can find it tomorrow. This isn’t the first time I left it there and no one bothers with my stuff there.