Chapter Two: A New Life

All the uniformed ponies had lined up in the entrance hall. An instructor stood in front of them. “The moment you walked in those doors, is the moment you lost your name. It may as well be 'waiter', 'sir' or 'madam', or even 'hey, you'.”

Quicksilver frowned at the instructor's words and thought, I already don't like this guy…

The stallion continued, “If I were you, I'd write your name down on something and keep it close to your heart, because it won't be often you hear it, if at all. That message aside, let's get started. The first thing you'll need to do is head over to that counter and get your ID.” He motions to a counter behind him as he said this. “Then after that, you'll be given instructions as to your job. This is a very important day for the Equestrian Grand Resort, so I must ask that you do all in your power to make sure it goes perfectly. When this evening is concluded, you all are to meet back here in the morning, so that we may give you a proper orientation. Now, off to your tasks.”

He turned around and left as soon as he'd finished talking, and the others had begun making a line at the counter. Quicksilver filed in line, and began contemplating what job they might have for him. His train of thought interrupted when the pony at the counter called “Next”, and realized that he was the next in line.

The mare at the counter pulled out what looked to be a blank card, placed in front of him and said, “here's your ID.”

The card seemed ordinary enough, until he went to pick it up. As he touched it, an image of his face appeared on it, along with his cutie mark as well. Quicksilver couldn't help but stare in amazement. “Wow, that’s amazing! How does it work?”

“It’s a very complex spell designed to record identifying features. The higher-ups had it created so the employees have a form of identification, for safety’s sake. Certainly makes my job easier. Now, head down the hall to your left to receive your assignment.” She pointed to the door beside him.

He slowly walked down the hallway, the gears in his head still spinning, thoroughly perplexed by his current situation. To go from petty thief to catering to the needs of Canterlot’s upper echelon? Surely, the powers at work here were playing a cruel joke. It seemed almost too good to be true. But what harm could come from hoping for the best?

Quicksilver found himself standing before another counter, with a pony stationed behind it. “ID please”, the pony said flatly. He fished his newly acquired ID card from one of his uniform’s pockets and placed it on the counter. The stallion grabbed the card and waved it over a raised symbol in the counter. A shine emitted from the symbol as the card swiped over it. Numbers appeared on the ID, which he wrote down on a clipboard before returning it.

“If you have no further questions, please clock in and get to your station.” The stallion behind the counter returned to his seat, and resumed writing on a clipboard.

Quicksilver approached what the other pony referred to as "the terminal". It appeared to be a stained black mirror, with a card-shaped outline etched into it's lower right corner. With a wave of the card, the terminal lit up with information: His face, his cutie mark, ID number, the current time, and the words "clocked in". He took a moment to study the number that now adorned his ID card, "1019". He quickly scanned the board to find his number.

"‘Tray Duty‘?" Quicksilver pondered out loud as he found the listed number.

"Oh? You've got Tray Duty too?"

He jumped at the sound of a voice that was not his own.

"Oh, sorry, it does get a bit quiet in here." He turned to face the pony who addressed him. A uniformed stallion met his gaze. "You must be new here."

Quicksilver shook his head and cocked an eyebrow. "Wha-, how can you tell?"

"For starters, you've still got that bright-eyed look about you, and I never forget a face." He gave a slight smile.

“That’s an… interesting talent to have there.” Quicksilver rubbed the back of his head

"Eh, it has its uses. So, you know where the kitchen is from here?"

He shook his head. “Can’t say that I do.”

The unicorn gave a wave of his hoof. “Well come on then, it’s just down this hall”

As they walked through the halls Quicksilver took a moment to peer down the side halls as they passed.

“This is what you might call the ‘skeleton’ of the resort. These hallways are for employees and allow easy access to the important areas in here,” the unicorn said, looking over his shoulder.

“So it’s usually busy then?”

“Not particularly,” he explained, “only during special events and the rush hours will you really be seeing anypony in the halls.”

“So then, how come the halls have been empty?” Quicksilver pondered.

“Oh, this event is quite important to the resort,” the stallion responds, “they’ve been making preparations for hours. Well, here we are.”

They stood in the kitchen, various appliances and cooking ware decorated the outer walls. chefs stood in front of the stoves, each pouring over dishes of all kinds. A number of trays holding a variety of snack foods covered the table in the center of the room. Ponies occasionally entering from the door on the far side of the room, grabbing a tray off the table, and heading back out. “And here’s the kitchen,” the unicorn said, “ now, what you need to do is take a tray and offer these appetizers to ponies passing by. Sounds simple enough, right?” Quicksilver nods. “Well then, after you.”

Quicksilver levitated one of the trays off the table, and pushed the door open with his magic as he walked out. He froze in his tracks at the sight on the other side of the door. A large number of ponies stood in the halls, all dressed in fine clothing, some conversing with one another. He even recognized some of them.

The unicorn gave a laugh. “If you think this is bad, you should see the dining hall.”

He took a second to regain his composure. “I’d always had the impression this place had some money, but not this much money.”

“Starting to sink in, Eh?” He let out another laugh. “Well, this is where we part ways,” the stallion said, walking down the hall.”

“Well,” Quicksilver said, glancing about the hall, “This is going to be an experience”

Author's Note

It's only been like, what... eight months in the making? Yeah, I've been trying to do too many things at once, which succeeded in me getting nothing done... but I've worked on getting things in order, and gonna get back into writing. But enough about me.

Yay, more exposition... but hopefully I've layed out enough groundwork to get to the meat and potatoes of the story.

...that being said, though... I feel like my descriptive writing could do with a bit of work, so I'm gonna put this on a back burner for a bit, so I can do some one-shot stories to flex my writing muscles a little. I WANT this story to be good, and I feel it's not as good as it could be, hence the break.