"You're late!!" "I asked for those papers 10 seconds ago!" "Stop slacking!" "I asked for workers who can type 60 words a minute! Not 58!" "Get over here! One more screw up, and yer fired!"
Our protagonist, Galleon Bloomer, shook his head to dispell the unpleasant thoughts of his employer. The voice of his boss echoed in his mind, but he refused to let the echoing voices get him down. In his mind, he just had to deal with it, just like the other accountants. They too were meek pushovers, but hey. The pay was...adequate. The tired stallion sat at his dinner table, slowly enjoying his bowl of cereal...at 5:55 pm. As usual.
His beige fur, brown mane and tail was pleasant to those that gazed upon him. His job as an accountant for a big accounting firm was brutal and unforgiving. He was grateful that he even made it home. The ridiculous hours, being sat in one spot, and the silence itself in his workspace was torture. In the morning, he had no time to have breakfast, or enjoy watching the sunrise. He awoke at 5 am, started work at 6 am, and ended work at 5pm. 10 hours of work. And a grand total of 1 hour of breaktime (splint into 15 minute segments), in which he would enjoy what the vending machines at the cafeteria had to offer, which was never a lot.
As he sat at his dinner table, the sun shining in through the venetians above his sink, he wasn't idly staring at the cat calendar on his wall like he usually did. Instead, he occupied himself with the newspaper which came to his door after he went to work. He was lucky that it wasn't raining today.
Galleon flicked through the pages, reading through the nonesense that filled the pages: Sex scandal this, celebrity X is in a relationship with celebrity Y, war is going swimmingly that. The usual. He had no interest in gossip. 'No point in paying attention to that stuff. It's rubbish.' The stallion thought to himself before flicking onto the next page. And the next.
However, after skipping the sports section at the back, a little advert catches his eye. His eyes widen behind his pair of spectacles as he focuses in on the small 5cmx3cm box. In the box was the silhouette of a smiling pony, accompanied by pink text. "Huh...what's this?" He was soft spoken and had the most curious of eyes. "Hm..."Dapper Phenomena's Studio, currently hiring!"" He read the address of the company and smiles softly. "Hehe. That sounds nice." Galleon gasps. "Wait a second!" He gasps louder. "Studio...photos! I've always wanted to work with models!" He beams, as he thinks of all the times that he went to fashion shows with his parents, and watched all that the fashion industry had to offer. It left a mark on his mind, and had become the subject of his dreams ever since. To him, this was an opportunity of a lifetime! Where everything was about glamour and the prettiest of mares!
He had to go. He had to leave now before he missed his chance. Time was a precious comodity!
"...Cereal first."
"Alright...okay. Tata now! Yeah yeah, whatever!" The mare closed the door and rested her back against it, before slowly sliding down. The less than amused ponies who had left her room where what was left of her crew. Emphasis on 'was'. Their grumbles and hoof falls eventually died out as they went further away from her apartment door.
"Celestia help me..." Another unsuccessful day of photoshoots. Her new dresses and magazine was going into the dumps even before it was released. Let alone completed. "Where did I go so wrooohoohoong?!" She curls up into a ball and fake sobs to herself, as actual crying would get her mascara all over the sleeve of her pink bathrobe.
Dapper Phenomena was a dark grey mare with a magenta mane and tail, both curled to perfection. The way she liked it. She lacked her usual charismatic glow about her, which was really something despite the colour of her fur. Her mane bounced as she wept. She was glad she was alone. She never liked being upset around other ponies. It was harmful to her image. As if her Fashion career wasn't harmful to her image already.
She looked up from her sleeve and up at the painting of Princess Celestia on her wall. "Oh Princess...please...send me a blessing..."
Coincidentally, our protagonist just so happened to arrive at the door of her apartment, dressed in his trench coat and hat. She wasn't hard to find, seeing that her door was painted pink, unlike the brown doors of the other apartments. "Hello?" Galleon turned the doorknob and pushed. Her door swung open and smacked her in the rear. Hard. Dapper's eyes widened before she jumps up off of the floor.
"YEEOW!" She yelps. She held her bottom before coming back to the floor, causing further pain to her rear.
Galleon enters the room and notices the mare on the floor. "Oh my gosh! Are you alright, ma'am?!" He asks with a concerned face. 'What happened to her?' The mare gave him a glare, but softened up to his face and how he looked. In her mind, he was obviously sorry. Probably. The mare shook away the stars that danced around her head, before opening her mouth up to speak.
"W-why yes, I am alright. I've had my fair share of spankings." She giggles as her cheeks shared the same colour as her robe. The stallion chuckles softly, not understanding what she meant. "Anyways, who are you and why have you come here, darling?" Dapper holds her hoof up for help.
"Well-" He gets a hold of her hoof and pulls the mare up. "Ung...heavy....Well, I've come here to talk about the advert that you've put up." He reaches into his coat pocket and produced his blue wallet with a rubberducky on the front. The mare raises a brow and an amused smile came to her face. Galleon pulls the out the advert from his wallet, which he had cut out of the newspaper. With a smile, he hoofs it to her. The mare takes the piece of paper and looked at it.
"Hm...My my. I didn't know I was still advertising....I guess that's where my money is going. Oh dear." She shakes her head. "I guess I can say that I'm really really thankful that you're here." This made the stallion smile.
"Why's that, ma'am?"
"My previous crew had quite literally walked out the door." Her ears lower a bit and she pouts. After a few seconds, she retracted her lip and her ears sprung back up. "Oh! How rude of me! I never asked you for your name. Nor have you asked for mine. Come with me. We'll exchange names during your interview." She steps back, walked further into the furnished room to where a nice mahogany desk was. The stallion smiles and follows her after closing the door, which had been left open the whole time.
"My my. And you say you are an accountant?"
"Yes si- M-ma'am!" She chuckles and claps her hooves.
"You're a rather educated pony. I like that. And you seem to fit the bill just fine. You're young, strapping and a good time keeper. Simply marvellous. Now, do you have any questions, mr Bloom?"
The stallion tugs on his collar. "It's Bloomer. And yes. I do. I was wondering if this could be a part time job? My schedule is kinda tight." Once these words left his mouth, the mare practically turned blue.
"O-oh...well...I'm sorry to say, but this is a full time job. I'm sorry, but I'll need ponies on hand at all times." She frowns at him. "Perhaps...you could quit your job?"
Galleon jumps a bit. "Q-quit?! I-I-I can't! My boss! He'll be super super mad!" He holds his hooves to his face and mumbled a load of gibberish. His mumbles got louder. Dapper backed away on her wheeled chair. She recognised what he was doing. He was having a panic attack.
"Darling! Please calm down!"
"I-I'm really sorry, ma'am! But I better go!" He jumps out of his chair and stumbles towards the door. After assaulting the doorknob with his hooves, he manages to open the door and ran out. He was gone. In his wake was a very upset, and very disappointed Dapper, who was frozen in the pose of a pony with her hoof outstretched, as if she were trying to bring him back with the power of the Force or something similiar. He didn't come back. Nor did he think to close the door.
"Oh Bloomer..." And there she was. Head down in her forelegs, weeping upon her desk. This time, it was for real. Her one chance of having a name for herself just one last time. Gone. "Oh Celestia...why do you do this to me?"
For Dapper Phenomena, life was a cruel Mistress. Never again would she find him or somepony like him. Or so she thought.
