Resident Fluffle

Its 7:30. Celestia has already set the sun on course for the day. The yellow sphere slowly rises over the metropolis of Manehattan. Everypony in town is jockeying for position on a traffic-choked street. It was a pain to navigate for Earth Ponies. Some Unicorns had it somewhat easy, provided they knew how to do so and knew where they were going. Pegasi, however, were faced with the biggest pain of all. For a long while, they were able to simply fly over the wagons that clogged the streets, but a few months prior, a law had been passed forbidding flying in the streets. Now they were faced with not only the monstrous task of navigating this wood and metal mess, they had never had to do it, were in no way used to it, and were predictably miserable. Police had had to quell more than a few road rage incidents involving Pegasi the very day the law was passed.

Golden Hooves thought wistfully that he should have voted. At least today he managed to beat the traffic by getting up quite early. He yawned, tired from this.

Ugh, I should've went to see DJ Pon3 last night, he thought, despite the fact that he would have been even more sleepy had he done so.

"Hey Golden!" somepony yelled out in the parking lot. He turned and saw Crab Apple.

"Uhh...hi, Crab" Golden said nervously. Crab Apple lived up to his name most of the time, being crabby and irritable. Most of Crab Apple's crankiness stemmed from his job, traffic, politics, or...well many things. The blue colored mule was just like his cousin Cranky Doodle over in Ponyville, Golden had heard.

"I got the best news ever today!" Crab quipped.

"What might that be?"

"I got fired! I don't have to show up at this place anymore!" he said. Golden caught a hint of a backwoods accent for the first time in three years of working with the pony-donkey hybrid. Or was it always there, masked by Crab Apple's perpetual foul mood?

"Oh. Well, that's good for you, I guess. What for?" the pegasus had to stifle a groan. That meant trying to fill yet another position, and positions at Parasol were hard to fill because so many ponies didn't know how to show up or pass a drug test. What's more, Golden would have to find somepony to pick up the slack until he could replace Crab Apple. Oh, joy.

"I can't say that, I was told that was classified. But they cut me loose, so I can now pursue my passion, hosting my own fishing show!"

That logic was quite questionable, after all, why would a mule need to fish? Crab Apple sure couldn't eat his catch. But Golden held his tongue.

"Bye, boss. I gotta pack if I'm gonna make it to the Maneissippi in a few days!" Crab Apple hooked up his wagon and started into busy Manehattan, pausing to flip off his former place of employment before speeding away at top speed.