“What do you mean you couldn’t find anything?! I came to you in the Fall; it’s been nearly ten months!” The tan earth pony glared at the crystal pony on the other side of the desk. “I’m just about to graduate with my master’s degree, and you’re telling me that there is nothing out there for me?”

The crystal pony looked up from Eff Stop’s files, remaining calm despite the earth pony yelling at her. “Mister Eff Stop – yes, you are graduating, but you are graduating with a master’s in art, primarily photography. You picked one of the least desirable degrees and then you picked the least desirable branch of that degree field. On top of that, you took more than one and a half times longer than the average student to complete all the courses, and your GPA is also just barely above the minimum required to graduate. You have minors in two completely unrelated scientific fields and, to top it all off, you have next to no experience in anything beyond entry level. I could not find anything for you because you are not qualified for anything!” the crystal pony elucidated with a sneer.

Eff Stop’s ears drooped as she beat him down with her words, his eyes drifting down to her nameplate – ‘Failed Futures’. How appropriate. He let out a heavy sigh as he mentally rearranged his priorities. At this point it wasn’t about trying to excel; now it was all about trying to recover his losses.

“So – what can I do, Failed Futures? I have over one hundred and fifty thousand bits in student loan debt that I took out from the Bank of Canterlot. I went to the cheapest per credit school I could find, which is why I’m up here in the Crystal Kingdom. I tried to get the free ride by applying to House Path, but I didn’t even get past the preliminary examinations. I tried to apply to be a Royal Guard, but I failed the physical tests. What more can I do? This can’t be the end, can it?” He looked pleadingly at Failed Futures, trying to keep the tears from entering his eyes.

“Hmm… honestly, I don’t know what you can do at this point. You could try your luck down south back near Canterlot or Ponyville. Generally speaking, the economies in central Equestria are faring better now than compared to a few years ago.” She flipped through a few pages. “However the chances of you finding a job that could make enough to offset your debt is very low. Photography is a luxury good; most people just want fashion photography like what Photo Finish does, or wedding photography like what Bell Duet creates. Very few people want landscape photography; they don’t see the value in it. If you want my advice, Eff Stop, try to find something to pay the bills, then ask for 25% more, because once the loans default, they will come after you.”

Eff Stop slowly raised his eyebrow as the advisor talked. “You seem to know an awful lot about my situation,” he commented when she had finished her appraisal.

She replied with a hint of sadness in her voice. “I have had to tell over twenty different ponies variants of this same talk that I am having with you. Some major in art, others in acting, while many major in philosophy. It all ends the same. Their parents told them to get a degree – no matter what degree it was, it would be better than nothing at all. For years this idea was drilled into your heads. You come to college, take out loans to become something better. But the problem with is that when every pony has a degree, nobody stands out anymore. With the majority of ponies your age now having degrees, it increases the minimum requirements for all jobs in the workplace. A degree in the arts doesn’t matter like it used to. It might have mattered to your parents, or theirs before them, but the world is changing with so many different education institutions. I wish I had something better to tell you, Eff Stop, but at least you know now as opposed to after your graduation.”

Eff Stop was in shock by this point, and he responded to her in a dull, flat tone. “Thank you for your time, Failed Futures. I need to be going now.”

#

Eff Stop trudged back to his dorm room. The entire hall was one giant party. Since he was in the senior dorms, everyone was celebrating their final few weeks in college. In his room, it was no exception.

“Hey Eff – let’s get wasted tonight!” came a voice from above.

Eff squawked as a pegasus landed on top of him, holding a beer. “How many times have I told you not to fly while buzzed, Silver Note? I don’t need you to slam into yet another window. My bank account can’t handle bailing you out again.”

The cream-colored pegasus laughed and rolled off of him, landing on his hooves as the pair walked over to the kitchen. The earth pony sighed when he saw six white lines of powder on the medium-sized table. On one side of the table, a pure white crystal pony was laughing manically.

“Who wants to have a race!” the crystal pony asked, gesturing at the lines.

Eff rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Talc… Seriously?”

The crystal pony started to say something in response when a few mares and hens lined up, all of them quite drunk. Talc looked away from Eff Stop and went over to the females.

“Well, well, well! We have our contestants! The Grand Prix is about to begin!” He grinned as the females cheered.

Eff Stop sighed in resignation, walked into the kitchen, and opened up the fridge to look at what food he had, and groaned. All of it was gone, replaced by booze. He grabbed bottle of Buckardi 151, put it in his back satchel and walked out of the dorm room.

He walked down the street away from the campus, taking a long sip between blocks. Every block, he took another swig from the bottle. He was warm after only two blocks.

Everything was fuzzy after four blocks.

Even with four legs, he was having trouble walking after six blocks.

The pony collapsed in the middle of the street while he was crossing from the tenth block to the eleventh....

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