It was only 3 weeks ago from the current date of writing this when I received a letter. It was unusual for a number of reasons. Firstly, there was no indication it had been opened, as in the entire envelope appeared a single piece of material. I drew to the conclusion that it must have been formed with magic, thus meaning its contents must be of some considerable value. But what could it be? Secondly, there was no indication of how it had arrived. Not even the usual disgusting drool left by Derpy, the usual mailpony. 'Who actually appointed her anyway?' Regardless the mystery was piling up when the third odd thing happened; the envelope began to just melt away, leaving a small scroll in my hooves to simply stare at in bewilderment.

"Um, Vinyl?" I turn my head towards the kitchen hoping that perhaps Vinyl Scratch might know something. 'Huh, that would be a change' I think to myself as she trots round the corner.

"yeah Octy? What's up?" She looks at me and tilts her head slightly.

"Are we expecting any mail?"

Vinyl looks back at me confused.

"What kinda mail? And before you ask, no I didn't break anything at my last gig! So it's not that."

"As in the sort of mail that arrives completely anonymously in magical packaging that opens itself.." I give her a hopeful look. It's not like she would know what it was but I felt it worth a try. I wonder how many times we've been in this situation; me asking her something and she just looking back at me blankly, completely obliv-

"Oh yeah! That thing.. I sorta forgot to tell you Octy..."

I am slightly taken back, probably only because I was so sure her she would live up to my usual expectations.

"Hold on, then what exactly is this? I would like to know as the underside appears to be glowing." It was true, whilst thinking to myself the underside of the scroll, presumably the text, had begun to glow a soft pink.

"Well..." Vinyl says, rubbing he back of her neck anxiously.

"Vinyl? Tell me this instance. What is this meant to be?" I say as I slowly start moving towards Vinyl.

"Well... huh y'see I was just kinda.." Vinyl says nervously as she begins to back away.

"Vinyl! Tell me!"

"I signed us up for a job position!" She quickly puts her hooves up in front of her expecting a slap or something similar, her eyes closed as if she were stuck mid flinch.

"I beg your pardon?"

Vinyl slowly lowers her hooves and opens her eyes. Head hanging a bit low and looking up at me to try and look innocent in hopes of mercy.

"I heard from this guy that he was lookin' for a couple ponies that could get a job done. Like, organizing stuff and I thought 'oh, I could use a few bits'. And then I thought that like, I would never be able to do it without you! So I just kinda sorta might of maybe signed both of us up a little bit.....please don't be mad at me..." She says whilst slowly raising her hooves again in fear once again of being hit.

I draw out a long sigh.

"Was he a shady looking pony?"

"Nah, nah! He was totally legit! I mean it! Octy you gotta believe me, I was just lookin for work and this came up."

"And where in your plan did you see me partaking in this?"

A sudden realization spread across Vinyl's face as I said my last comment.

"Woah woah woah! Hold up Octy! I really really need this. Please..."

The look on her face was so cute. Damnit she knew how to pull a puppy face when she needed it. I groan audibly as I make my decision. 'Sweet Celestia. I am going to regret this aren't I?' I must say that looking back at it now, I am quite proud of myself for being courageous enough to make both the worst and best decision of my life in a single moment. So yay for me!

"Vinyl. I have known you for a while and thus I am used to your occasional mishaps. But, as a friend of yours I am obliged to trust you when making your life decisions. For the sake of our friendship."

"Wait, so.." She asks me quizzically

"For your sake, I shall give this a shot with you." I barely had time to finish before Vinyl had pounced on me and started hugging the life out me.

"Thankyou! Thankyou! Thankyou! Thankyou! Thankyou! Thankyou!"

"Vinyl, please.." I say as the oxygen is slowly pressed out of my lungs. I manage to push her off just before suffocation.

"Thank you. But before we make a move I suggest that we actually read this first as magical glowing scrolls don't seem like the sort of response you get for a job application. And I can't help but feel this might burst into flames or something of that liking if we don't read it. For all we know it's just the wrong letter.

"k. Got it. Let's read it then." Vinyl replies calmly even though she is practically ecstatic at this point. She actually hides it very well.

We both take a seat in the sitting room and unroll the scroll to begin reading. However just as I finished unrolling it the pink glow brightened to the point of near blinding us. I raise my hooves to block my eyes, assuming that the scroll will fall to the floor. yet it just stays in place. And the pink glowing letters began to read themselves. I expected some sort of booming voice to read me my destiny or something similar.

"Hi! How ya feelin?" The voice asks very enthusiastically.

Vinyl attempts to respond but simply stammers through sheer dumbfoundedness. My instant response is just to facehoof.

"Actually this is pre-recorded so you can't really answer. Oops, silly me! Well if you're hearing this then you applied for the position and you got it! Woo! Good for you! Unless you're a naughty mail pony and opening mail that isn't yours...If so, put it back Derpy! Is she gone? Good. Now let's get down to business. You accepted the job, so you obviously agreed to the terms and conditions. I'm slightly surprised you replied so quickly; usually it takes a few weeks for people to fully read and understand all the rules and stuff. Oh well, you must be really smart!"

A quick glance at Vinyl being replied with a sorry look and a shrug confirms that she didn't do any of the things deemed necessary. I just roll my eyes and continue listening.

"So I'll be expecting you at Sugarcube corner in a few weeks then. See ya there! Ooh and look for the table with the pink box on it! K bye!"

And with that the glow fades away and the scroll falls to the floor.

"Right then. I suppose we should prepare then?" I barely had enough time to think before the scroll started glowing again.

"Oh yeah almost forgot! If you don't show up in 3 weeks something really bad will happen to you! Ok, that's everything. Step back as I'm gunna explode now! Weeeeeeeee!" As the voice described the paper burst into a pink flame and burnt away quickly. I turn back to Vinyl.

"Right. What do you think we will need? Because from that description this is a very serious job."

Vinyl still looks scared of getting a smack from me. To be honest I probably should have.

"Wait, so you're not mad at me for not reading what I was meant to?"

I can feel my eyes bore into her head as I glare at her. 'My word I am getting good at this.' I think to myself.

"Oh don't worry I'm certainly mad at you. However I feel that the consequences of your poor actions will probably make up for anything I could say to you. Because no matter how much money might come out of this we can't use it if we ARE BOTH DEAD!" I scream the last bit perhaps too loudly. Surprisingly Vinyl stops cowering and stands up to begin shouting.

"Hey! Sorry for trying to get us some money! Geese, I was thinking of you too y'know!" She shouts, turning away and crossing her arms in the process. I'm not sure why I was so mad; for all I knew it was just some prank Vinyl wanted to play as she was bored. Or maybe it was just a secret gift at the end to thank me for being a good friend. Not that anything positive was going through my mind at that point as I was so angry. We were both off the sofa now and were ready to continue our shouting match. She was standing by the door that led to the kitchen whilst I was on the other side by the stairs. I did consider simply walking away to prevent the argument from evolving any further. Yet I ,for whatever reason, really wanted to just hell her down. So I continued with a rebuttl-

"Actually Octy, could we like leave the argument out?"

I look up from the paper to see her pulling quite the awkward face. I had forgotten how much she hated others knowing that she occasionally loses her cool. Come to think of it it was a fairly ferocious argument. Thus I gave in to her wishes.

"Sure Vinyl, whatever you say. I'll skip straight to where we make up."

Trixie was opening her mouth to say something but Daring stopped her; this was quite serious and didn't need any comments.

Yet I, for whatever reason, really wanted to just yell her down. ~~So I continued with a rebuttl~~

However I kept my cool and continued calmly.

"Vinyl I understand that. But you must realize how bad this could go, surely?"

I tried moving slightly closer and looking at her more sincerely as apposed to angrily. At the end of the day we didn't share a living space just because we were slightly short on money. It was because we were friends, great friends perhaps even each other's best friends. Well I am not too sure for Vinyl but she definitely meant a lot to me at the very least. And she was right on one thing; we both really needed money.

"Yeah your right Octy, as usual. I've been kinda worrying about this for a while as soon as I signed us up for it. And maybe I should have asked you about it first. Because you are the smart one. And I shoulda known you would be there to guide me." She comes forward for a hug. "Sorry?"

I embrace quickly

"Apology accepted." We hold each other for a second before breaking and talking some more.

"So, what do you think we should do? I mean, I don't think we can just ignore it."

"Well the message said that 'something bad' will happen to us if we don't go. I normally wouldn't worry, but the way the message came was just so grand that I can't help but believe what was said. Personally I think we should go but still be cautious with our approach."

"Yeah, sounds good. Do ya think we should like ask around to see if anyone knows anything like it?" Vinyl says. I think it's actually the first time she has completely thought something through before saying it. Even though the point still did have its flaws.

"No. I think it would be safer to simply avoid mentioning it to anyone; I'm still not quite comfortable with the lack of information we have been given about our employer and the task we are meant to be doing."

Vinyl looked slightly disappointed at how little we knew about what we were really going into. I felt the same really.

"So Sugarcube corner in 3 weeks?"

"Yup. Looks like it."

So we left it at that. We only discussed it again on the day a few weeks later.

"So is everyone happy with that?" I ask having stopped writing. Vinyl seemed content yet the others shared a similar concern.

"Surely we must take down all of our callings? In case of necessary comparisons to find a trend of course." Trixie says. Although the last bit was probably added just so that her urge to write about herself was at least partially hidden. Her self-centered nature truly knows no bounds. She is far too desperate for attention.

"All right then. Who would like to write first?"

Surprisingly Cheese Sandwich manages to intervene before Trixie.

"Ooh ooh! Pick me! I wanna write first Octy!"

Trixie's frustrated look manages to make me giggle slightly.

"Yeah, go ahead Cheese! Just make it obvious that it's not me writing now. And start a new chapter too."

"Okie dokie loki!" Pinkie's signature catchphrase coming out of Cheese's mouth seemed odd. I noted it away in the back of my mind just in case it became helpful. We then switched places so that he could begin to write. I was actually quite looking forward to seeing how Cheese was called upon. And now I got to! Trixie was right, this is a good idea.

Author's Note

Sorry for a slightly shorter chapter. I am planning to have chapters vary quite drastically in size when going through other character's accounts of the same scene. Just to make it still interesting so that you won't have to re-read the same scene 4 or 5 times over. Again thanks for reading this chapter and don't be afraid to post any criticisms or corrections in the comments but do make them polite is all I ask. Also I have said that I will try to update every week, however I feel that at the beginning my updates might be more spontaneous; if I feel like finishing a chapter and updating I probably just will. Thanks for reading!