Starhoof Valleyby WolokaiChaptersRepetition in ExcellenceIt Got WorseThe Final Gift of Hearth's WarmingRepetition in Excellence"Mayhaps it is in our inability to understand the true nature of 'luxury' that we often find ourselves spending our entire lives searching for that which never existed in the first place." -Soul Soother ========~~~======== 4th of Winter: Year Zero Three Weeks Before Hearth's Warming ========~~~======== 'Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep be-' 'Click!' "Nnnnnn.....no." A simple collection of three unique sounds. Nothing more, nothing less. These were the sounds that started each and every single day for a boring, average, not-so-unique Pegasus mare named Crystalline Dancer. This Pegasus at the very moment was trying to roll over but found herself 'stuck' with her belly pressed firmly into the mattress, her wings stiff and erect on either side of her. She could have sworn that somewhere in some stale equestrian physiology book it said that only boys were supposed to be dealing with this sort of issue...though she may have been getting it mixed up with other particular parts of anatomy. She snorted, her face pressed in a mostly comfortable pillow stuffed with her own feathers, and by mostly comfortable she meant when the tips of those feathers didn't poke through the pillow case and jab her in the eyes. She always lacked a modicum of maturity when it came to things like sex, though she wasn't sure if that was due to her absolutely worthless amount of knowledge she had in the subject, or because she had barely any experience in the matter. She settled on both. She raised a hoof weakly above her to the right, counting down the seconds until the infernal machine started squawking at her again. She hated that stupid alarm clock, the little bastard always glaring at her with those evil looking neon-red numbers that always told her that she was either really late or that she was losing time. Even if she did manage to haul herself out of bed she still ran the twenty five to thirty percent chance of merely collapsing upon the floor and succumbing to her sleepy fate for another hour. That is, if it was a Saturday or Sunday morning...any other day and she'd be a dead mare. Sure enough, fifteen seconds later and the mad honking of the alarm clock pierced the sensitive drums of her ears. Her hoof thwopped down upon the snooze button like a sugared-up filly playing whack-a-diamond-dog. A series of mewling whines and pouting grunts floated about the air as she struggled to push her face deeper into the pillow in attempts to flee from the rapidly approaching responsibilities she was about to be forced to take on. In doing so however, the quill of one of her feathers popped through the fabric and poked her right in the front of her left eyelid. "YEOWCH!" Came her shrill cry, the mare lifting her head up and huffing rapidly at the pain as she shut her eyelids even tighter. She slowly rose from her belly, leaning back to fall on her haunches as she gently pressed her hooves to her eyes, a low grown escaping her. That was the fourth time this week. Stupid pillow. Stupid feathers! Her ears suddenly perked at another series of beeps to her right, floating across the room as did the sudden smell of her best (and most delicious) friend in the whole wide world. Turning her head and cracking her good eye open, she spotted a light amount of steam wafting from the top of her tiny coffee machine. The midnight black liquid sat within its glass prison, practically screaming at her in a boiling hot message that read: 'Please come drink me. You'll die, explode, catch on fire, and die again if you don't'. Ah, coffee, the one thing that always told the truth no matter how bad it scalded. Reaching over and pressing the 'off' switch on the alarm mode, Crystalline reached her front legs over her head, stretching with a light, chirping 'Mmrph' and following it up with a loud yawn as she stretched. Several pops could be heard from the mare's body, her wings twitching slightly though refusing to accept the mental command of 'at ease!'. That was fine though...not like she had anyone around to impress with her wingspan anyway...nor did she have much of an irregular wingspan to speak of in the first place. A loud yawn rumbled out of her throat, the mare smacking her gums together loudly and taking a few ginger steps down onto the floor of her carpeted studio apartment. She looked around groggily, amazed that she had made it out of the percentile chance of falling on her floor and moving sluggishly towards her bathroom door. The apartment was tiny compared to most others, a 20'x10' floor plan that had barely enough room to most of the stock furniture it came with, let alone all her stuff. In fact, some of her belongings were still packed up in boxes, taking up all the space on her couch and a small bit of the floor before it. Between working full time and sleeping...there just wasn't enough time in the day to get it all unpacked. Not that she had anywhere to put it anyway, she already felt cramped up as it was. The apartment itself was a part of a new 'constructional ingenuity' trial, with the entire building itself having been built upon the cloud layer below the main city of Cloudsdale. The foundation had been perfectly leveled and magically fused to the fluffy white floor, which made some Pegasus a little nervous about the possibility of such magics failing. It was the only reason Crystalline could even really afford to live there, with the rent really cheap because of the liability risk. So far so good though...the floor hadn't dropped out beneath her hooves yet. She had her wings crossed though, being sure to pray extra hard to Celestia every day to ensure the myriad of spells laid down held true. She went into the bathroom, another yawn billowing out of her as she stood in front of the mirror and 'assessed the damage.' She stared into the droopy eyes of her reflection, a very faded maroon color staring back at her. She flicked her eyes up to her disheveled mane: a blueberry colored mess that flowed over her back and had a slight 'poof' on the crown of her head with a single twirling strand falling forward over her forehead. Her mane looked much better straight according to her coworkers, though most of the time she had it crammed into a large, factory-regulation bun. Her fur was a toothpaste-colored white, though some small patches were stained a very dull 'rainbow' color due to the nature of her work. She hated Tuesdays and Thursdays for this reason, being required to work in the Rainbow Factory rather than her usual job at the Cloud-Packing Plant, or the 'CPP' for short. She turned to the right a moment, then the left as the corner of her mouth turned downward in a slight grimace. She had packed on quite a few pounds in the recent year, at around 'two dress sizes larger than most other fillies in town' according to her 'good' pal Weather Vane. Not that there was anything wrong with being a tad bit bigger, with her rump looking quite voluptuous and showing off her cutie mark and her thighs looking very presentable from the rear. She just wished she could fit back into some of her older dresses, instead of having to pour bits into attire she was only going to wear maybe two times out of the year for work-required parties and seminars she had to attend and the occasional ultra rare occurrence of going out for a wild night on the town which consisted of a tame two-drink policy and a brisk walk home before the sun got too low. She had told herself she was going to get fit over the summer and try to trim down...but sixty days of Hoofflix and booze later and she found herself making the usual promise to do it next summer instead. She turned her rear to once more get a look at her cutie mark: A thunderhead that had a lightning-accented, yellow colored musical note resting in front of it. Like most of her family, a talent for music ran in her blood. Specifically for her, the ability to make decent synthetic and electrical tunes from specially packed and formed clouds was her forte'...though she never got to practice much of that skill these days...or like, ever. She sighed after a moment, her wings finally starting to calm themselves down and slowly fold towards her sides. She gave them a couple of flaps first to get the kinks out before neatly retracting them and letting them shake a bit to get her feathers ruffled up. She'd straighten them out after she got cleared to go to lunch, knowing that today was preening day...and you never skipped out on preening day. After taking care of her mare-ly business, the Pegasus emerged with a satisfied huff and walked up to her coffee pot. A fresh mug was already placed nearby at the ready, as well as a tiny packet of creamer and two sugar cubes. Plucking the pot free of the machine with a careful grip in her teeth, she poured herself a piping-hot mug and added the extra components with a practiced flick of of her hooves. Plucking a spoon free of the drying rack next to her with a careful pinching of her wing feathers, she stirred up the heavenly mixture and dropped it back in the sink. She turned from the counter, the mug clenched tightly in her wing feathers as she stared back towards her alarm clock. The time was currently '7:47', meaning she had about forty five or so minutes before she needed to be hightailing it towards the factory. The very thought of it put a very noticeable weight on her heart, the organ feeling as though it was about to sink down through her stomach and get stuck somewhere in her butt. Not even the heavenly taste of the creamy coffee was enough to shake the painful dread that was making its way through her core. She hated her job...hated everything about it and everything associated with it. Being a cloud-packer wasn't the most luxurious line of work, and there were much worse jobs of course...but just the dullness of it was enough to drive her mad. Even after a couple of cups of coffee there wasn't much she could do to prevent the dreary threat of sleep that tried to claim her constantly throughout her shift. Still...there were bills that needed to get paid, and they weren't going to pay themselves. 'Maybe I should have gotten an exotic job like Vinyl's' was her thought, grumbling quietly as she casually sipped on her coffee. Vinyl's job as a DJ took her to a variety of fancy places, the Playmare Mansion and Luna's Lounge among them. She always had a talent for making cool and addictive music with a variety of beats and rhythms that got even her hooves jumping, but sadly that talent was hers and hers alone. There wasn't much of an industry for a talent that involved kicking clouds to make music. With a weary sigh, Crystalline downed the last of her coffee and placed the empty mug in her sink next to the spoon, turning the knob with a hoof to fill it with water before moving towards her front door. The front coat hanger that held her partially coffee-stained leather purse greeted her like a silent doorman, offering her the small satchel which she plucked and strung around herself in a practiced twisting of her wings and head. There was a scarf and a thick saddle blanket on the other two hooks, but she was fairly confident she wouldn't need it today. Taking a moment to flip her coffee machine off and get one last look at her apartment, she opened the door and bid her abode goodbye for the next ten or so hours. A gust of chilly air blew through the opening, passing between her legs and causing her to let out a light whinnie of protest. "OoooOOOOOOH!" She exclaimed, her wings folding tightly to her form and the fur on the back of her neck sticking up. She knew that the factory was going to start churning out the heavier winter weather, but didn't realize they were going to crank it down so soon! With a quick turn and swipe of her hoof, she plucked the violet and green patterned scarf from another hook on her coat hanger and whipped it around her neck. She grabbed the saddle blanket in turn, draping it over her back and securing it around her barrel before huffing and closing the door behind her. With a quick turn of a key and a trotting of her hooves, she was well on her way down the hall and towards yet another absolutely loathsome day and a mediocre amount of bits to boot. But hey, things could've been worse she thought. They could have been a lot worse.... No way it could get that way though... Absolutely no way... ....right? It Got Worse"You've got to be kidding me." "Ma'am it's for your own safe-" "Where was THIS notice on the evening news last night?!" "It was issued a couple of hours ago, the temperatures are just too-" "UGH!!! I do NOT have time for this!!!" Crystalline turned, quickly galloping away from the guard who had just (very irritatingly might she add) scolded her about trying to fly in a 'Flying Restricted Time Slot', and dashing for the nearest passenger chariot depot. Apparently, sometime in the wee hours of the morning the weather team declared Cloudsdale to be in a state of 'unsafe weather conditions'. The temperature it seemed was getting colder and colder by the minute, a scheduled 'record low' on the agenda for this year's Winter weather. This made it particularly dangerous for most Pegasai who weren't equipped with the weather teams' Specialized Environment Gear and Apparatus (Or S.E.G.A. as they started to call it, though Crystalline was pretty sure the corporation was staring down the barrel of some legal trouble on that one for some reason) to be flying, as the cold could result in locking up joints, stiff wings, or even a dreaded case of Featherbite. Whatever reason it was that they could have instilled the restriction, it wasn't a good enough one for Crystalline as she hadn't exactly planned on not being able to just fly directly up to the factory. The CPP was located on Tier Eight of Cloudsdale, two below the top layer where the corporation sat along with all the other business headquarter buildings, with Crystalline herself living on Tier Three. It took around twenty minutes or so on a good day with pleasant updrafts to navigate the tiers of the city to her work, and that was with air traffic included. Public transit for unicorns and earth ponies however, or wounded or otherwise grounded Pegasai wasn't quite as forgiving. It doubled the amount of time it took to get pretty much anywhere, and you could easily triple or quadruple that if you ran into active school zones or rush hour flying. She was hoping it was just the double. She could still make it on time if that was the case. Rounding the corner of her building she could see the chariot stop come into view...and saw that it was packed with at least thirty other ponies. Some were sitting on the bench, some in front of it, but most others were standing around it, checking watches or straightening ties. "Cock suck fuck-a-duck." Crystalline swore, her gallop quickly slowing into a light trot and then a walk when she saw how cramped the depot was. The chariot could only fit about twenty or so ponies at a time, and there was at least a ten to twenty minute wait time between each one if the routes were running smoothly. They weren't designed to hold so many ponies based on the extreme ratio of the population when it came to Pegasai versus the other two races, and even if she could make it to the other depot there was little to no chance that it wouldn't have been as crowded as this one. Walking up to one of the business-dressed Pegasus colts she gave him a light tap on his side to garner his attention. He turned his head, raising an eyebrow as Crystalline motioned her head towards the road sign with the picture of a chariot on it. "Lemmie guess...you didn't get the 'No-Fly' announcement either?" She said, her question turning the heads of a couple of curious ponies before most of them turned away. "Yeah pretty much," The colt said with an affirmative nod "Heard it on the horn already, apparently every stop from Tier One all the way to Tier Five is like this," He shook his head, letting out an aggravated sigh "Weather team totally dropped the fucking ball on this one." Yeah...she figured the congestion was pretty bad. Five tiers though? Somepony on the weather board was getting drawn and de-feathered today over this. "I heard most businesses on the higher tiers are trying to compensate so their workers don't get pegged with tardies, so I guess that helps." Crystalline's lips pulled back into a tight grimace. There was no way she was getting a pardon for this. She had a hoof in making the weather, so she was sure one of her supervisors was going to give her the whole 'Didn't you get the memo?' routine. Just the thought of it made her annoyed and anxious. Several ears perked up, heads rising up and turning as the sound of a creaking chariot made its way to their ears. Peering over some of the crowd, she could see the six-horse-power chariot rolling across the cloud road towards them. She quickly took her spot and line, and as she predicted, the damn transit couldn't hold any of them. She sighed as she dropped to her haunches, the chariot closing up and rolling away. It was another boring ten minutes before a burst of feedback made many ponies cover their ears in instinct, voices of protest crying out as an announcement was being made from the emergency PA system. The PA system was a communications platform that ran speakers all the way across Cloudsdale and was run from the news station on Tier Nine. It was mostly used to declare quick changes of weather patterns or the like to keep the population informed if the weather team goofed it...and judging by the announcement, they sure did goof it bad. "Attention Cloudsdale, we're experiencing a heavy slowdown of traffic in Tier Six due to an accident and a large amount of snow discharge, and as such chariot times are expected to be delayed. Please bear with us as we try and-" The rest of the announcement was completely engulfed in the angry outcry of the crowd around her, with one colt's voice roaring out over the others that carried the words "SUCK MY BALLS!" through the air. Crystalline merely bowed her head, pressing a hoof to her face as she shook her head. ===Three Hours Later=== "What do you MEAN you had no idea about the announcement?!" Shouted (Practically shrieked...) Clear Blue, one of Crystalline Dancer's two supervisors. The mare was as loud as her mane, done up in a eye-bleeding hot pink color that did absolutely nothing to compliment her chocolate brown fur. "I mean that I didn't hear it! There was no notice, no warning, nothing!" Crystalline retorted, punching in for her shift in the time clock with a 'KER-CHUNK' of the machine. She placed the time card in the 'in' slot with her name taped next to it, turning to get another few sucker punches in from the irritated pegasus. "Didn't you-" Don't say it. "-get the-" Please, don't say it. Oh my stars. "MEMO?!" "NO I DIDN'T THE SUN-DAMNED MEMO!" Crystalline snapped, throwing her hooves up in the air "Who expects a memo at five o'clock in the morning?! I didn't get a p-mail notification, I didn't get a physical copy, I didn't get diddily daddily squat!" Clear Blue shook her head, pointing towards the hall doors that lead to the main plant as she called after Crystalline who was now making her way towards the factor floor "You're practically a part of the weather team Crys, you don't get to use those kinds of excuses!" After a few moments of not getting response, Blue shouted after her "I can hear you rolling your eyes!!!!" Rolling her eyes a second time, Crystalline pushed her way through the double doors and into the 'ready room'. The ready room was the staging ground for incoming employees to stash belongings in their lockers, tie their manes up, sanitize, and all the other menial garbage the corporation made them go through to prepare for work. Why anyone needed to sanitize for a job that consisted of simply packing clouds into a box was a mystery that was beyond her scope of guessing or reasoning. Throwing her purse in one of the lockers, she let out a heaving sigh and started to put her mane up. Even though she had gotten to the factory hours late, she could tell the day was still going to be long as hell. ~~~ 'WWWWHHRRRR....thud thud, shuffle......WWWHHHHRRRR.....TWHUNK' Wait for the box...pack the box...push the box... One, after another, after another, after another. Crystalline watched with her eyes only as the next box wheeled in front of her on the conveyor belt. She stopped it with a meek pat of her right hoof, slowly reaching over to grab a tuft of white cloud with her left out of a secondary belt that ran just under the one before her across the floor. She placed the tuft within the box, pressing it down a few times before closing the flaps of the box and gently nudging it out of the way and onwards down the belt towards the cloud crusher which was a large hydraulic press that stamped the boxes with a large seal bearing the corporation's logo on it. She huffed loudly, rinsing and repeating the process of stopping, packing, and pushing the boxes down the line. "Sun above I could really use another cup of coffee..." She whimpered softly, pressing another tuft of cloud within the empty box before her and pushing it down the lane. She swayed slightly, fighting back the urge to close her eyes as yet another empty box presented itself before her. She had to admit, her job was easy...but in the most agonizing way possible. Nothing could be more boring than this, of that she was sure. She could have gotten herself some coffee from the break room, but the garbage they brewed in that pot was more akin to radioactive sludge that had reached sentience and was begging to die than what could pass as actual coffee. Her eyes fluttered a moment, nearly closing fully before a sneeze jolted her awake. She jumped as the voice of the mare at the station behind her whined softly "Oh dammit...now I need to go sanitize again..." She looked over her shoulder as the mare raised a hoof and shouted "Supervisor! Sanitation!", causing in turn for Crystalline to feel a little more 'caffeinated' now that attention was getting drawn to them. If any of the floor observers caught her dozing off she'd be in for it for the write up haul for sure. One of the supervisors stopped on one of the catwalks lining the far wall and tipped his hard hat to her, clearing her to go. Crystalline listened as her hooffalls retreated towards the ready room, leaving her once more alone with her work. Even with the small distraction, it wasn't long before fatigue once more weighed heavily on the back of her brain. She muttered something under her breath, another box getting packed and sent on its way. Her thoughts roamed as they usually did, going over to-do lists and lists of upcoming bills and company events she needed to pay and attend. She often found herself wondering how she even ended up in this mess in the first place. She tried going to school, but she just couldn't manage it with her finances. She wouldn't dare ask her parents either, since they weren't exactly that well off either. Vinyl often offered to help pay her way but the amount of guilt she felt in mooching off her sister was too much for her to bear. Vinyl's money was Vinyl's...she earned it, she ought to keep it. Still, with school not an option she had considered the Equestrian Guard but...the recruiters all made her nervous. She had heard too many stories from her friends who were already in about the thick slab of meaty lies they plopped in front of you to try and get you to sign up. It was enough to make her skin crawl, and thus was also scratched through as an option. Where did that leave her then? Her parents couldn't realistically afford to keep paying for her and there weren't any stable job positions in Ponyville to help pay for room and board for the amount she'd need to contribute. Besides...she was a mare in her early twenties, which was a bit old for their race to still be living with mommy and daddy. They were like the gryphons in that regards: once you left the nest, you seldom went back. She hadn't really any major life goals though. No big dreams, no aspirations or drive. She was just...there. The thought of such a dead end life was something that had kept her up for many nights, unable to fall asleep due to the agonizing 'what ifs' that kept poking her in the nerve center of her brain. Who was she going to be? What was she going to do? Was she going to be a cloud-packer for the rest of her life? It was these questions that haunted her each and every day of her life since her move to Cloudsdale, the only thing stronger being the absolute unshakable feeling that she was about to pass out at any second. She swayed to and fro, mumbling incoherent words at this point as the lack of decent sleep and cramming in sixty hours this week finally took their toll. Her head tilted back suddenly as she leaned backwards, a startled snort escaping her as she quickly tried to compensate and tilted back forward. Her face hit the soft plush of a gentle cloud, her eyes fluttering shut as a feeling of bliss overtook her. Ah, at last....a comfortable pillow worthy of her head. She smiled slightly, her body feeling like it was flying as the gentle headrest started to carry her far away towards a land of dreams. Though her head felt weightless, her body seemed so heavy, as if it was weighing her down, even dragging her across an unseen floor. There was a noise, a low one, but a noise none the less. She couldn't really pinpoint what it was exactly, but it sounded so familiar. A light thudding gently reached her ears, and along with it she could hear something more akin to a running river. The oddest part overall...was that all the noises were getting progressively louder. Confusion swam through her mind. What was with all the noise? If this was the land of dreams, shouldn't it have been more peaceful? Relaxing even? She could have sworn that the noises she was hearing were starting to sound like...voices. But whose were they? What did they want? "CR...CER!!!!" she heard, loud but soft at the same time. What were they on about? Couldn't they tell she was trying to sleep? "STOP THE.....SHUT IT DOWN, SHUT IT..." Her brow furrowed as she let out a heavy grunt of disapproval. Seriously, who the hell was doing all the damn shou- Kerthunk...kerthunk...kerthunk....KERTHUNK!!!! "CRYSTALLINE WATCH OUT! OH MY GODS!!!!" Crystalline let out a shrieking gasp as something firm crashed into her, her vision going nuts as she felt her head hit the solid floor of the factory and a thunderous slam of the hydraulic press ring through her ears. Her heart thudded a mile a minute, her breath coming out in quick, shallow pants as her eyes darted about this way and that. She saw movement everywhere, an alarm went off in her ears, voices crammed their way into her brain. A pair of hooves shook her as a low ringing made itself known as the backdrop amongst the other sounds. Her eyes finally settled on the pony shaking her, tears spilling from the frantic-looking Pegasus as she shouted her name at her, tapping her cheek with a hoof. "CD! What the hell?!?! Are you ok!? Speak to me!!!" "W...eather...Vane?" She croaked, her eyes still wide and her wings twitching like mad. The emerald coated, yellow-maned mare in question pulled her into a tight hug, sobbing as Crystalline's eyes wandered over to the press. The box she had packed was sitting just past the press, all that was left of it smashed into a flat pancake. "D-d-did I...did I a-almost...oh my fuck..." Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. This time, sleep didn't take 'no' for an answer. The Final Gift of Hearth's Warming"You understand full well the severity of this situation, yes Miss Dancer?" Clear Blue said, a very menacing tone in her voice. She had just gotten done angrily scribbling her signature on a couple of forms and had slammed them down before the shaking Pegasus before her, a blanket draped around her. "Yeah..I kind of do." They had called the Pega-medics for Crystalline after she had nearly gotten her head crushed by the hydraulic press, and after determining that she was in no major medical danger other than extreme fatigue, decided that a trip to the hospital wasn't necessary. They -did- recommend she go home and go to bed immediately, and to take a couple of days off to rest...but not before Clear Blue got her hooves on her. After ten minutes of prying Weather Vane off of her, the supervisor managed to haul a barely coherent Crystalline up into her office. She poured her a hot cup of (decent as far as factory grade went) coffee and gave the shivering pony some time to let the shock of the near-miss subside, which in turn gave her the chance to quickly fill out the appropriate '10-B', '34-F', and '22-E' forms for the incident report she'd have to log. "I'm not sure you actually do." Clear Blue said after a moment, tapping on one of the forms with a hoof. Crystalline peered up from the spot on the floor she was burning a hole through with her intense stare and immediately took notice of the bright pink colored parchment. "Oh you cannot be serious," She said, looking up at her supervisor in disbelief "You seriously aren't going to fire me over this are you?! Rent isn't going to stop because of Hearth's Warming and I've got an electricity bill coming up!" Clear Blue pushed the form towards her, scowling as she growled "I'm completely serious Dancer! Do you realize the amount of backlash this could cause the corporation if the Mayoral Board found out one of the workers passed out and nearly got killed on the factory floor?" She waved her hoof about to exaggerate the point, her scowl only deepening as she went on "We can't afford an inquiry right now right before Hearth's Warming. It'd screw up the entire output projections for the weather and we'd all be in some serious trouble!" "Maybe if the corporation wasn't overworking the staff, things like this wouldn't happen!" Crystalline retorted, a scoff popping off from her muzzle as she threw a hoof behind her and pointed towards the door "And sorry if I'm not a little more sympathetic for the corporation's factorial goal, but I just nearly got my HEAD crushed in by a gigantic STAMPING machine!" Clear Blue slowly nodded, a tight grimace on her face as she uttered in a quieter, more impatient tone "Yeah, yeah you did. That's exactly why we've got to give you 'medical leave and temporary suspension'." She slid the form a little closer towards Crystalline's end of the table, the blanket-clad Pegasus already forming tears in her eyes "It's standard procedure Dancer...we just can't afford the lawsuit. After the appropriate time allotted passes you'll be able to submit a request for reemployment and I'm sure I can get you back on the factory floor when I put in a good word to Wind We-" "Yeah," Crystalline croaked, sniffing and staring down at the pink parchment like it was her death certificate. "I'll be sure to move the cardboard box I'll be living in closer to the factory so my commute will be a little easier too, that way everypony wins." Her supervisor stared at her for several long moments before sighing and pulling out a green colored parchment and slid it towards her "Look...it sucks, I know. I once got my wing caught in one of the conveyor belts back when I was a floor worker...put me out of commission for a month. But rules are rules..." She looked down at the parchment for a moment, then back up to her "I can get you a severance package for at least a months amount of work, so you can at least make rent for the month. Would that be good enough?" "To be honest..." Crystalline whimpered, looking up at Clear Blue as the tears spilled free, dripping down her fur and onto the desk "You probably should have just let the press kill me." The words hung in the air for an awkward amount of time. Her supervisor stared at her with her mouth slightly agape, unsure if she had heard the distraught mare correctly. Crystalline was just as surprised...she couldn't quite believe she had said that either. The tears started to flow faster as she suddenly choked out a sob, pushing her hooves against her eyes and weeping into them. "Crystalline..." Clear Blue whispered tiredly, getting up from her seat and walking around the desk towards her. She pulled the now crying Pegasus into her hooves, patting her on the back as she gently cooed to her "It's gonna be ok...alright? Why don't you go home and see your family for the holidays, and get some rest." She gently reached over to the desk, sliding her pen over towards them "Come on...let's get these filled out and we'll head by accounting to try and get you an advance paycheck." ~~~ "Wait, so you -ARE- coming home for Hearth's Warming?! Oh hell yes!" screamed her overly excited sister over the phone. "That's literally like the best news I've heard all week. I seriously thought I was gonna be stuck facing mom and dad all by lonesome, but with you there I won't have to face the firing squad alone!" Crystalline rolled her puffy eyes, taking a shaky sip of her coffee from her sitting position on her bed. Her paycheck was sitting next to her by all the copies of the forms she had been given, as well as a box of tissues. The money was a kind gesture on Clear Blue's part...but it was only a temporary solution. She was going to have to figure out what to do for the two months after the new year rolled around or she was gonna be in a major bind. "Yes well..." she started, trying to hide the pain in her voice "Wouldn't want that would we? Sisters got to stick together and...all that stuff." She hadn't told Vinyl about losing her job...or nearly becoming pony soup. She knew if she did, her sister would have never let her hear the end of it...and Celestia forbid if her parents found out. The thought of it was enough to make her form shiver. "Totally! Hey, speaking of family, if you can make it home within the next two weeks on that Wednesday before Hearth's Warming we're going to go visit Grandma in the home." She blinked, looking towards the heavily scribbled upon calendar hanging on the wall near her bed. Between the cramped hours of shifts she had jotted down on the days, another note had been jotted down in green marker that read 'Granny Visit'. That was indeed coming up wasn't it... "If you can't that's totally cool...I know your job keeps you really bu-" "Actually," Crystalline piped up, quickly cutting her off "Work just gave me some holiday leave so...I can totally be there." "Wait, seriously?" Vinyl replied, a tone of worry in her voice "Isn't that kind of...early to be handing out leave?" Crystalline shook her head against the phone as she quickly said "Oh no no no...it's uh...it's fine. We've really overhit the quota for this month so they were handing out some leave. It's no problem." Vinyl's voice was absolutely dripping with disbelief. She could always tell when her sister was lying, but she never pestered nor pushed for answers. Instead there was a light sigh on the other end followed up by "Well...alright. It'll be really nice to have you back anyway. Grandma asks about you from time to time and Mama says it's been ages since she's heard from you. Oh! Oh oh oh now that I mention Grandma..." She trailed off for a moment, a sudden crunching noise coming through the phone. Crystalline pulled the receiver away for a second before narrowing her eyes, quickly picking up the sound of Vinyl's voice in mid-chew. Manners were never really her strong suit. "Grandma was talking about Grandpa the other day on the phone. It was the anniversary of his passing and she asked me for like, the bazillianth time if you got the letter he wanted you to have. I forwarded to your address awhile ago but you never told me if you got it." There was a pause as another chorus of chewing hit her ears, her voice muffled by whatever she had crammed into her mouth "Would have sent it sooner but it kind of got lost in the paperwork with the other stuff when he died." At this, Crystalline's ears perked up. She looked over on her couch at the high pile of mail sitting upon it. Most of it was junk mail, the mare only ever sifting through it to try and find wayward bills. "Hold on a second...." She muttered, plopping the phone down and hopping off her bed. The letter...the letter...which letter was it? She had been so swamped with work and...work, that she hadn't really any time to reflect much on anything else. She vaguely remembered Vinyl saying that their Grandfather's will contained a letter that was meant for her. She put a hoof on the pile, quickly scattering some advertisement pamphlets out of the way as she wracked her brain for any trace of remembrance. Finally, her hoof settled on a peach colored envelope, her name and address scratched on the front with her Grandparent's names scribbled in the top left hand corner with a stamp of a heart. It was only upon seeing it that the memory quickly returned to her. She had gone through a particularly nasty time at work that day, and had to rush home to beat the heavy thunderstorm scheduled to be cranked out before that night. It didn't particularly help that rent was also due that day, and after collecting her mail from her postbox, must have only given it a passing glance as she fished through the stack for her rent statement. Plucking it up in her mouth, she trotted back to her bed and deposited it on her comforter over the other stacks of paper, hopping back up and grabbing the phone with an expert flick of her wing. "Ok, I found it." She said into the receiver, poking at it with her hoof "I hadn't even opened it yet...I've been so busy I must have forgotten it somewhere down the line." "And the Granddaughter of the year award goes tooooo..." Vinyl teased, chuckling but quickly following it up with a clearing of her throat and a muttered "Sorry." She shook her head as Vinyl went on "Anyway, as long as you got it that's cool! I gotta get going, my next set is due to go live in about thirty minutes and I gotta do an equipment check. Can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks!" "Me either sis'," Crystalline replied, the first genuine smile she displayed in a while passing over her lips "Take care." They said their goodbyes and hung up, leaving the Pegasus alone with the letter. She picked it up, turning it between her hooves and studying it a moment. "Can't believe I didn't remember getting this..." she said with a confused murmur, nudging the back flap open with a careful hoof. A small, folded stack of papers fell out on her bed as she upturned the envelope, her eyes immediately drawn to a statement written in large, bulky hoof writing. 'READ THIS FIRST' Tilting her head slightly, she unfolded the first paper out from around the stack and turned it so she could see the front. It was written in your usual lettered format, and down at the bottom she could already see her Grandfather's signature winking up at her from the page. Peering back up at the top, she read out loud: "Dear Crystalline Dancer, my beautiful Granddaughter, If you're reading this, than I am no longer with you. Know that in my passing, I loved you and your sister more than anything in the whole of Equestria. It was such a joy to see the both of you grow up and reach for your dreams. While Vinyl Scratch pursued her musical career, and you yours in retail...I have to come clean, I was worried. You would often sit on my lap as a young filly and name out the dreams and goals you had for that day, most of them involving being a dancer or a singer, and even a space pony!" Crystalline chuckled, shaking her head as she recalled those simpler days. She found her place again and read on. "But...when you became an adult and you left home, I felt an unease in my heart. I knew, deep down...you weren't going to find happiness out there. The world you were flying into wasn't the one of your dreams, but I was going to try and support you as best as I could regardless. As your Grandfather however, I knew it was my duty to try and help you in whatever way I could to ease the burden I was sure you were going to face, as I myself once had to endure the very same. Crystalline...my precious star, there will come a day when you feel crushed by the burden of modern life...and your bright spirit will fade before a growing emptiness. When that happens, my dear, you'll be ready for the rest of the letter enclosed. Know that, no matter what happens, and no matter what choices you make...I will always love you. With all my heart, your Grandfather, ~Soul Soother." She put down the first paper, sniffing loudly as she wiped her eyes with her foreleg. Her Grandpa was always very sweet to her and Vinyl...always chipper and always there when they hit rock bottom. She was devastated when he passed, her soul yearning to hear his voice at least once more. Maybe that was the true beauty of the colt known as Soul Soother. He always knew exactly what to say to make you smile. She looked at the rest of the papers, an approximate stack of about four of them if she counted correctly. She reached for them, pulling them into her hooves as she pondered on her Grandfather's words. Crushed by the burden of modern life...? Well, she had nearly experienced that in the most literal of senses...and her spirit was nothing but all shot to pieces at this point what with losing her job and her financial future pretty much in absolute ruin. If there was any better time to read this...she couldn't think of one. Unfolding the papers, her eyes took to scanning the next letter. As she got further down, her eyes grew increasingly wider and wider, her mouth hanging open. As she hit the bottom of the page she looked up, her bottom lip quivering as she whispered "No....way..."
Repetition in Excellence"Mayhaps it is in our inability to understand the true nature of 'luxury' that we often find ourselves spending our entire lives searching for that which never existed in the first place." -Soul Soother ========~~~======== 4th of Winter: Year Zero Three Weeks Before Hearth's Warming ========~~~======== 'Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep be-' 'Click!' "Nnnnnn.....no." A simple collection of three unique sounds. Nothing more, nothing less. These were the sounds that started each and every single day for a boring, average, not-so-unique Pegasus mare named Crystalline Dancer. This Pegasus at the very moment was trying to roll over but found herself 'stuck' with her belly pressed firmly into the mattress, her wings stiff and erect on either side of her. She could have sworn that somewhere in some stale equestrian physiology book it said that only boys were supposed to be dealing with this sort of issue...though she may have been getting it mixed up with other particular parts of anatomy. She snorted, her face pressed in a mostly comfortable pillow stuffed with her own feathers, and by mostly comfortable she meant when the tips of those feathers didn't poke through the pillow case and jab her in the eyes. She always lacked a modicum of maturity when it came to things like sex, though she wasn't sure if that was due to her absolutely worthless amount of knowledge she had in the subject, or because she had barely any experience in the matter. She settled on both. She raised a hoof weakly above her to the right, counting down the seconds until the infernal machine started squawking at her again. She hated that stupid alarm clock, the little bastard always glaring at her with those evil looking neon-red numbers that always told her that she was either really late or that she was losing time. Even if she did manage to haul herself out of bed she still ran the twenty five to thirty percent chance of merely collapsing upon the floor and succumbing to her sleepy fate for another hour. That is, if it was a Saturday or Sunday morning...any other day and she'd be a dead mare. Sure enough, fifteen seconds later and the mad honking of the alarm clock pierced the sensitive drums of her ears. Her hoof thwopped down upon the snooze button like a sugared-up filly playing whack-a-diamond-dog. A series of mewling whines and pouting grunts floated about the air as she struggled to push her face deeper into the pillow in attempts to flee from the rapidly approaching responsibilities she was about to be forced to take on. In doing so however, the quill of one of her feathers popped through the fabric and poked her right in the front of her left eyelid. "YEOWCH!" Came her shrill cry, the mare lifting her head up and huffing rapidly at the pain as she shut her eyelids even tighter. She slowly rose from her belly, leaning back to fall on her haunches as she gently pressed her hooves to her eyes, a low grown escaping her. That was the fourth time this week. Stupid pillow. Stupid feathers! Her ears suddenly perked at another series of beeps to her right, floating across the room as did the sudden smell of her best (and most delicious) friend in the whole wide world. Turning her head and cracking her good eye open, she spotted a light amount of steam wafting from the top of her tiny coffee machine. The midnight black liquid sat within its glass prison, practically screaming at her in a boiling hot message that read: 'Please come drink me. You'll die, explode, catch on fire, and die again if you don't'. Ah, coffee, the one thing that always told the truth no matter how bad it scalded. Reaching over and pressing the 'off' switch on the alarm mode, Crystalline reached her front legs over her head, stretching with a light, chirping 'Mmrph' and following it up with a loud yawn as she stretched. Several pops could be heard from the mare's body, her wings twitching slightly though refusing to accept the mental command of 'at ease!'. That was fine though...not like she had anyone around to impress with her wingspan anyway...nor did she have much of an irregular wingspan to speak of in the first place. A loud yawn rumbled out of her throat, the mare smacking her gums together loudly and taking a few ginger steps down onto the floor of her carpeted studio apartment. She looked around groggily, amazed that she had made it out of the percentile chance of falling on her floor and moving sluggishly towards her bathroom door. The apartment was tiny compared to most others, a 20'x10' floor plan that had barely enough room to most of the stock furniture it came with, let alone all her stuff. In fact, some of her belongings were still packed up in boxes, taking up all the space on her couch and a small bit of the floor before it. Between working full time and sleeping...there just wasn't enough time in the day to get it all unpacked. Not that she had anywhere to put it anyway, she already felt cramped up as it was. The apartment itself was a part of a new 'constructional ingenuity' trial, with the entire building itself having been built upon the cloud layer below the main city of Cloudsdale. The foundation had been perfectly leveled and magically fused to the fluffy white floor, which made some Pegasus a little nervous about the possibility of such magics failing. It was the only reason Crystalline could even really afford to live there, with the rent really cheap because of the liability risk. So far so good though...the floor hadn't dropped out beneath her hooves yet. She had her wings crossed though, being sure to pray extra hard to Celestia every day to ensure the myriad of spells laid down held true. She went into the bathroom, another yawn billowing out of her as she stood in front of the mirror and 'assessed the damage.' She stared into the droopy eyes of her reflection, a very faded maroon color staring back at her. She flicked her eyes up to her disheveled mane: a blueberry colored mess that flowed over her back and had a slight 'poof' on the crown of her head with a single twirling strand falling forward over her forehead. Her mane looked much better straight according to her coworkers, though most of the time she had it crammed into a large, factory-regulation bun. Her fur was a toothpaste-colored white, though some small patches were stained a very dull 'rainbow' color due to the nature of her work. She hated Tuesdays and Thursdays for this reason, being required to work in the Rainbow Factory rather than her usual job at the Cloud-Packing Plant, or the 'CPP' for short. She turned to the right a moment, then the left as the corner of her mouth turned downward in a slight grimace. She had packed on quite a few pounds in the recent year, at around 'two dress sizes larger than most other fillies in town' according to her 'good' pal Weather Vane. Not that there was anything wrong with being a tad bit bigger, with her rump looking quite voluptuous and showing off her cutie mark and her thighs looking very presentable from the rear. She just wished she could fit back into some of her older dresses, instead of having to pour bits into attire she was only going to wear maybe two times out of the year for work-required parties and seminars she had to attend and the occasional ultra rare occurrence of going out for a wild night on the town which consisted of a tame two-drink policy and a brisk walk home before the sun got too low. She had told herself she was going to get fit over the summer and try to trim down...but sixty days of Hoofflix and booze later and she found herself making the usual promise to do it next summer instead. She turned her rear to once more get a look at her cutie mark: A thunderhead that had a lightning-accented, yellow colored musical note resting in front of it. Like most of her family, a talent for music ran in her blood. Specifically for her, the ability to make decent synthetic and electrical tunes from specially packed and formed clouds was her forte'...though she never got to practice much of that skill these days...or like, ever. She sighed after a moment, her wings finally starting to calm themselves down and slowly fold towards her sides. She gave them a couple of flaps first to get the kinks out before neatly retracting them and letting them shake a bit to get her feathers ruffled up. She'd straighten them out after she got cleared to go to lunch, knowing that today was preening day...and you never skipped out on preening day. After taking care of her mare-ly business, the Pegasus emerged with a satisfied huff and walked up to her coffee pot. A fresh mug was already placed nearby at the ready, as well as a tiny packet of creamer and two sugar cubes. Plucking the pot free of the machine with a careful grip in her teeth, she poured herself a piping-hot mug and added the extra components with a practiced flick of of her hooves. Plucking a spoon free of the drying rack next to her with a careful pinching of her wing feathers, she stirred up the heavenly mixture and dropped it back in the sink. She turned from the counter, the mug clenched tightly in her wing feathers as she stared back towards her alarm clock. The time was currently '7:47', meaning she had about forty five or so minutes before she needed to be hightailing it towards the factory. The very thought of it put a very noticeable weight on her heart, the organ feeling as though it was about to sink down through her stomach and get stuck somewhere in her butt. Not even the heavenly taste of the creamy coffee was enough to shake the painful dread that was making its way through her core. She hated her job...hated everything about it and everything associated with it. Being a cloud-packer wasn't the most luxurious line of work, and there were much worse jobs of course...but just the dullness of it was enough to drive her mad. Even after a couple of cups of coffee there wasn't much she could do to prevent the dreary threat of sleep that tried to claim her constantly throughout her shift. Still...there were bills that needed to get paid, and they weren't going to pay themselves. 'Maybe I should have gotten an exotic job like Vinyl's' was her thought, grumbling quietly as she casually sipped on her coffee. Vinyl's job as a DJ took her to a variety of fancy places, the Playmare Mansion and Luna's Lounge among them. She always had a talent for making cool and addictive music with a variety of beats and rhythms that got even her hooves jumping, but sadly that talent was hers and hers alone. There wasn't much of an industry for a talent that involved kicking clouds to make music. With a weary sigh, Crystalline downed the last of her coffee and placed the empty mug in her sink next to the spoon, turning the knob with a hoof to fill it with water before moving towards her front door. The front coat hanger that held her partially coffee-stained leather purse greeted her like a silent doorman, offering her the small satchel which she plucked and strung around herself in a practiced twisting of her wings and head. There was a scarf and a thick saddle blanket on the other two hooks, but she was fairly confident she wouldn't need it today. Taking a moment to flip her coffee machine off and get one last look at her apartment, she opened the door and bid her abode goodbye for the next ten or so hours. A gust of chilly air blew through the opening, passing between her legs and causing her to let out a light whinnie of protest. "OoooOOOOOOH!" She exclaimed, her wings folding tightly to her form and the fur on the back of her neck sticking up. She knew that the factory was going to start churning out the heavier winter weather, but didn't realize they were going to crank it down so soon! With a quick turn and swipe of her hoof, she plucked the violet and green patterned scarf from another hook on her coat hanger and whipped it around her neck. She grabbed the saddle blanket in turn, draping it over her back and securing it around her barrel before huffing and closing the door behind her. With a quick turn of a key and a trotting of her hooves, she was well on her way down the hall and towards yet another absolutely loathsome day and a mediocre amount of bits to boot. But hey, things could've been worse she thought. They could have been a lot worse.... No way it could get that way though... Absolutely no way... ....right?
It Got Worse"You've got to be kidding me." "Ma'am it's for your own safe-" "Where was THIS notice on the evening news last night?!" "It was issued a couple of hours ago, the temperatures are just too-" "UGH!!! I do NOT have time for this!!!" Crystalline turned, quickly galloping away from the guard who had just (very irritatingly might she add) scolded her about trying to fly in a 'Flying Restricted Time Slot', and dashing for the nearest passenger chariot depot. Apparently, sometime in the wee hours of the morning the weather team declared Cloudsdale to be in a state of 'unsafe weather conditions'. The temperature it seemed was getting colder and colder by the minute, a scheduled 'record low' on the agenda for this year's Winter weather. This made it particularly dangerous for most Pegasai who weren't equipped with the weather teams' Specialized Environment Gear and Apparatus (Or S.E.G.A. as they started to call it, though Crystalline was pretty sure the corporation was staring down the barrel of some legal trouble on that one for some reason) to be flying, as the cold could result in locking up joints, stiff wings, or even a dreaded case of Featherbite. Whatever reason it was that they could have instilled the restriction, it wasn't a good enough one for Crystalline as she hadn't exactly planned on not being able to just fly directly up to the factory. The CPP was located on Tier Eight of Cloudsdale, two below the top layer where the corporation sat along with all the other business headquarter buildings, with Crystalline herself living on Tier Three. It took around twenty minutes or so on a good day with pleasant updrafts to navigate the tiers of the city to her work, and that was with air traffic included. Public transit for unicorns and earth ponies however, or wounded or otherwise grounded Pegasai wasn't quite as forgiving. It doubled the amount of time it took to get pretty much anywhere, and you could easily triple or quadruple that if you ran into active school zones or rush hour flying. She was hoping it was just the double. She could still make it on time if that was the case. Rounding the corner of her building she could see the chariot stop come into view...and saw that it was packed with at least thirty other ponies. Some were sitting on the bench, some in front of it, but most others were standing around it, checking watches or straightening ties. "Cock suck fuck-a-duck." Crystalline swore, her gallop quickly slowing into a light trot and then a walk when she saw how cramped the depot was. The chariot could only fit about twenty or so ponies at a time, and there was at least a ten to twenty minute wait time between each one if the routes were running smoothly. They weren't designed to hold so many ponies based on the extreme ratio of the population when it came to Pegasai versus the other two races, and even if she could make it to the other depot there was little to no chance that it wouldn't have been as crowded as this one. Walking up to one of the business-dressed Pegasus colts she gave him a light tap on his side to garner his attention. He turned his head, raising an eyebrow as Crystalline motioned her head towards the road sign with the picture of a chariot on it. "Lemmie guess...you didn't get the 'No-Fly' announcement either?" She said, her question turning the heads of a couple of curious ponies before most of them turned away. "Yeah pretty much," The colt said with an affirmative nod "Heard it on the horn already, apparently every stop from Tier One all the way to Tier Five is like this," He shook his head, letting out an aggravated sigh "Weather team totally dropped the fucking ball on this one." Yeah...she figured the congestion was pretty bad. Five tiers though? Somepony on the weather board was getting drawn and de-feathered today over this. "I heard most businesses on the higher tiers are trying to compensate so their workers don't get pegged with tardies, so I guess that helps." Crystalline's lips pulled back into a tight grimace. There was no way she was getting a pardon for this. She had a hoof in making the weather, so she was sure one of her supervisors was going to give her the whole 'Didn't you get the memo?' routine. Just the thought of it made her annoyed and anxious. Several ears perked up, heads rising up and turning as the sound of a creaking chariot made its way to their ears. Peering over some of the crowd, she could see the six-horse-power chariot rolling across the cloud road towards them. She quickly took her spot and line, and as she predicted, the damn transit couldn't hold any of them. She sighed as she dropped to her haunches, the chariot closing up and rolling away. It was another boring ten minutes before a burst of feedback made many ponies cover their ears in instinct, voices of protest crying out as an announcement was being made from the emergency PA system. The PA system was a communications platform that ran speakers all the way across Cloudsdale and was run from the news station on Tier Nine. It was mostly used to declare quick changes of weather patterns or the like to keep the population informed if the weather team goofed it...and judging by the announcement, they sure did goof it bad. "Attention Cloudsdale, we're experiencing a heavy slowdown of traffic in Tier Six due to an accident and a large amount of snow discharge, and as such chariot times are expected to be delayed. Please bear with us as we try and-" The rest of the announcement was completely engulfed in the angry outcry of the crowd around her, with one colt's voice roaring out over the others that carried the words "SUCK MY BALLS!" through the air. Crystalline merely bowed her head, pressing a hoof to her face as she shook her head. ===Three Hours Later=== "What do you MEAN you had no idea about the announcement?!" Shouted (Practically shrieked...) Clear Blue, one of Crystalline Dancer's two supervisors. The mare was as loud as her mane, done up in a eye-bleeding hot pink color that did absolutely nothing to compliment her chocolate brown fur. "I mean that I didn't hear it! There was no notice, no warning, nothing!" Crystalline retorted, punching in for her shift in the time clock with a 'KER-CHUNK' of the machine. She placed the time card in the 'in' slot with her name taped next to it, turning to get another few sucker punches in from the irritated pegasus. "Didn't you-" Don't say it. "-get the-" Please, don't say it. Oh my stars. "MEMO?!" "NO I DIDN'T THE SUN-DAMNED MEMO!" Crystalline snapped, throwing her hooves up in the air "Who expects a memo at five o'clock in the morning?! I didn't get a p-mail notification, I didn't get a physical copy, I didn't get diddily daddily squat!" Clear Blue shook her head, pointing towards the hall doors that lead to the main plant as she called after Crystalline who was now making her way towards the factor floor "You're practically a part of the weather team Crys, you don't get to use those kinds of excuses!" After a few moments of not getting response, Blue shouted after her "I can hear you rolling your eyes!!!!" Rolling her eyes a second time, Crystalline pushed her way through the double doors and into the 'ready room'. The ready room was the staging ground for incoming employees to stash belongings in their lockers, tie their manes up, sanitize, and all the other menial garbage the corporation made them go through to prepare for work. Why anyone needed to sanitize for a job that consisted of simply packing clouds into a box was a mystery that was beyond her scope of guessing or reasoning. Throwing her purse in one of the lockers, she let out a heaving sigh and started to put her mane up. Even though she had gotten to the factory hours late, she could tell the day was still going to be long as hell. ~~~ 'WWWWHHRRRR....thud thud, shuffle......WWWHHHHRRRR.....TWHUNK' Wait for the box...pack the box...push the box... One, after another, after another, after another. Crystalline watched with her eyes only as the next box wheeled in front of her on the conveyor belt. She stopped it with a meek pat of her right hoof, slowly reaching over to grab a tuft of white cloud with her left out of a secondary belt that ran just under the one before her across the floor. She placed the tuft within the box, pressing it down a few times before closing the flaps of the box and gently nudging it out of the way and onwards down the belt towards the cloud crusher which was a large hydraulic press that stamped the boxes with a large seal bearing the corporation's logo on it. She huffed loudly, rinsing and repeating the process of stopping, packing, and pushing the boxes down the line. "Sun above I could really use another cup of coffee..." She whimpered softly, pressing another tuft of cloud within the empty box before her and pushing it down the lane. She swayed slightly, fighting back the urge to close her eyes as yet another empty box presented itself before her. She had to admit, her job was easy...but in the most agonizing way possible. Nothing could be more boring than this, of that she was sure. She could have gotten herself some coffee from the break room, but the garbage they brewed in that pot was more akin to radioactive sludge that had reached sentience and was begging to die than what could pass as actual coffee. Her eyes fluttered a moment, nearly closing fully before a sneeze jolted her awake. She jumped as the voice of the mare at the station behind her whined softly "Oh dammit...now I need to go sanitize again..." She looked over her shoulder as the mare raised a hoof and shouted "Supervisor! Sanitation!", causing in turn for Crystalline to feel a little more 'caffeinated' now that attention was getting drawn to them. If any of the floor observers caught her dozing off she'd be in for it for the write up haul for sure. One of the supervisors stopped on one of the catwalks lining the far wall and tipped his hard hat to her, clearing her to go. Crystalline listened as her hooffalls retreated towards the ready room, leaving her once more alone with her work. Even with the small distraction, it wasn't long before fatigue once more weighed heavily on the back of her brain. She muttered something under her breath, another box getting packed and sent on its way. Her thoughts roamed as they usually did, going over to-do lists and lists of upcoming bills and company events she needed to pay and attend. She often found herself wondering how she even ended up in this mess in the first place. She tried going to school, but she just couldn't manage it with her finances. She wouldn't dare ask her parents either, since they weren't exactly that well off either. Vinyl often offered to help pay her way but the amount of guilt she felt in mooching off her sister was too much for her to bear. Vinyl's money was Vinyl's...she earned it, she ought to keep it. Still, with school not an option she had considered the Equestrian Guard but...the recruiters all made her nervous. She had heard too many stories from her friends who were already in about the thick slab of meaty lies they plopped in front of you to try and get you to sign up. It was enough to make her skin crawl, and thus was also scratched through as an option. Where did that leave her then? Her parents couldn't realistically afford to keep paying for her and there weren't any stable job positions in Ponyville to help pay for room and board for the amount she'd need to contribute. Besides...she was a mare in her early twenties, which was a bit old for their race to still be living with mommy and daddy. They were like the gryphons in that regards: once you left the nest, you seldom went back. She hadn't really any major life goals though. No big dreams, no aspirations or drive. She was just...there. The thought of such a dead end life was something that had kept her up for many nights, unable to fall asleep due to the agonizing 'what ifs' that kept poking her in the nerve center of her brain. Who was she going to be? What was she going to do? Was she going to be a cloud-packer for the rest of her life? It was these questions that haunted her each and every day of her life since her move to Cloudsdale, the only thing stronger being the absolute unshakable feeling that she was about to pass out at any second. She swayed to and fro, mumbling incoherent words at this point as the lack of decent sleep and cramming in sixty hours this week finally took their toll. Her head tilted back suddenly as she leaned backwards, a startled snort escaping her as she quickly tried to compensate and tilted back forward. Her face hit the soft plush of a gentle cloud, her eyes fluttering shut as a feeling of bliss overtook her. Ah, at last....a comfortable pillow worthy of her head. She smiled slightly, her body feeling like it was flying as the gentle headrest started to carry her far away towards a land of dreams. Though her head felt weightless, her body seemed so heavy, as if it was weighing her down, even dragging her across an unseen floor. There was a noise, a low one, but a noise none the less. She couldn't really pinpoint what it was exactly, but it sounded so familiar. A light thudding gently reached her ears, and along with it she could hear something more akin to a running river. The oddest part overall...was that all the noises were getting progressively louder. Confusion swam through her mind. What was with all the noise? If this was the land of dreams, shouldn't it have been more peaceful? Relaxing even? She could have sworn that the noises she was hearing were starting to sound like...voices. But whose were they? What did they want? "CR...CER!!!!" she heard, loud but soft at the same time. What were they on about? Couldn't they tell she was trying to sleep? "STOP THE.....SHUT IT DOWN, SHUT IT..." Her brow furrowed as she let out a heavy grunt of disapproval. Seriously, who the hell was doing all the damn shou- Kerthunk...kerthunk...kerthunk....KERTHUNK!!!! "CRYSTALLINE WATCH OUT! OH MY GODS!!!!" Crystalline let out a shrieking gasp as something firm crashed into her, her vision going nuts as she felt her head hit the solid floor of the factory and a thunderous slam of the hydraulic press ring through her ears. Her heart thudded a mile a minute, her breath coming out in quick, shallow pants as her eyes darted about this way and that. She saw movement everywhere, an alarm went off in her ears, voices crammed their way into her brain. A pair of hooves shook her as a low ringing made itself known as the backdrop amongst the other sounds. Her eyes finally settled on the pony shaking her, tears spilling from the frantic-looking Pegasus as she shouted her name at her, tapping her cheek with a hoof. "CD! What the hell?!?! Are you ok!? Speak to me!!!" "W...eather...Vane?" She croaked, her eyes still wide and her wings twitching like mad. The emerald coated, yellow-maned mare in question pulled her into a tight hug, sobbing as Crystalline's eyes wandered over to the press. The box she had packed was sitting just past the press, all that was left of it smashed into a flat pancake. "D-d-did I...did I a-almost...oh my fuck..." Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. This time, sleep didn't take 'no' for an answer.
The Final Gift of Hearth's Warming"You understand full well the severity of this situation, yes Miss Dancer?" Clear Blue said, a very menacing tone in her voice. She had just gotten done angrily scribbling her signature on a couple of forms and had slammed them down before the shaking Pegasus before her, a blanket draped around her. "Yeah..I kind of do." They had called the Pega-medics for Crystalline after she had nearly gotten her head crushed by the hydraulic press, and after determining that she was in no major medical danger other than extreme fatigue, decided that a trip to the hospital wasn't necessary. They -did- recommend she go home and go to bed immediately, and to take a couple of days off to rest...but not before Clear Blue got her hooves on her. After ten minutes of prying Weather Vane off of her, the supervisor managed to haul a barely coherent Crystalline up into her office. She poured her a hot cup of (decent as far as factory grade went) coffee and gave the shivering pony some time to let the shock of the near-miss subside, which in turn gave her the chance to quickly fill out the appropriate '10-B', '34-F', and '22-E' forms for the incident report she'd have to log. "I'm not sure you actually do." Clear Blue said after a moment, tapping on one of the forms with a hoof. Crystalline peered up from the spot on the floor she was burning a hole through with her intense stare and immediately took notice of the bright pink colored parchment. "Oh you cannot be serious," She said, looking up at her supervisor in disbelief "You seriously aren't going to fire me over this are you?! Rent isn't going to stop because of Hearth's Warming and I've got an electricity bill coming up!" Clear Blue pushed the form towards her, scowling as she growled "I'm completely serious Dancer! Do you realize the amount of backlash this could cause the corporation if the Mayoral Board found out one of the workers passed out and nearly got killed on the factory floor?" She waved her hoof about to exaggerate the point, her scowl only deepening as she went on "We can't afford an inquiry right now right before Hearth's Warming. It'd screw up the entire output projections for the weather and we'd all be in some serious trouble!" "Maybe if the corporation wasn't overworking the staff, things like this wouldn't happen!" Crystalline retorted, a scoff popping off from her muzzle as she threw a hoof behind her and pointed towards the door "And sorry if I'm not a little more sympathetic for the corporation's factorial goal, but I just nearly got my HEAD crushed in by a gigantic STAMPING machine!" Clear Blue slowly nodded, a tight grimace on her face as she uttered in a quieter, more impatient tone "Yeah, yeah you did. That's exactly why we've got to give you 'medical leave and temporary suspension'." She slid the form a little closer towards Crystalline's end of the table, the blanket-clad Pegasus already forming tears in her eyes "It's standard procedure Dancer...we just can't afford the lawsuit. After the appropriate time allotted passes you'll be able to submit a request for reemployment and I'm sure I can get you back on the factory floor when I put in a good word to Wind We-" "Yeah," Crystalline croaked, sniffing and staring down at the pink parchment like it was her death certificate. "I'll be sure to move the cardboard box I'll be living in closer to the factory so my commute will be a little easier too, that way everypony wins." Her supervisor stared at her for several long moments before sighing and pulling out a green colored parchment and slid it towards her "Look...it sucks, I know. I once got my wing caught in one of the conveyor belts back when I was a floor worker...put me out of commission for a month. But rules are rules..." She looked down at the parchment for a moment, then back up to her "I can get you a severance package for at least a months amount of work, so you can at least make rent for the month. Would that be good enough?" "To be honest..." Crystalline whimpered, looking up at Clear Blue as the tears spilled free, dripping down her fur and onto the desk "You probably should have just let the press kill me." The words hung in the air for an awkward amount of time. Her supervisor stared at her with her mouth slightly agape, unsure if she had heard the distraught mare correctly. Crystalline was just as surprised...she couldn't quite believe she had said that either. The tears started to flow faster as she suddenly choked out a sob, pushing her hooves against her eyes and weeping into them. "Crystalline..." Clear Blue whispered tiredly, getting up from her seat and walking around the desk towards her. She pulled the now crying Pegasus into her hooves, patting her on the back as she gently cooed to her "It's gonna be ok...alright? Why don't you go home and see your family for the holidays, and get some rest." She gently reached over to the desk, sliding her pen over towards them "Come on...let's get these filled out and we'll head by accounting to try and get you an advance paycheck." ~~~ "Wait, so you -ARE- coming home for Hearth's Warming?! Oh hell yes!" screamed her overly excited sister over the phone. "That's literally like the best news I've heard all week. I seriously thought I was gonna be stuck facing mom and dad all by lonesome, but with you there I won't have to face the firing squad alone!" Crystalline rolled her puffy eyes, taking a shaky sip of her coffee from her sitting position on her bed. Her paycheck was sitting next to her by all the copies of the forms she had been given, as well as a box of tissues. The money was a kind gesture on Clear Blue's part...but it was only a temporary solution. She was going to have to figure out what to do for the two months after the new year rolled around or she was gonna be in a major bind. "Yes well..." she started, trying to hide the pain in her voice "Wouldn't want that would we? Sisters got to stick together and...all that stuff." She hadn't told Vinyl about losing her job...or nearly becoming pony soup. She knew if she did, her sister would have never let her hear the end of it...and Celestia forbid if her parents found out. The thought of it was enough to make her form shiver. "Totally! Hey, speaking of family, if you can make it home within the next two weeks on that Wednesday before Hearth's Warming we're going to go visit Grandma in the home." She blinked, looking towards the heavily scribbled upon calendar hanging on the wall near her bed. Between the cramped hours of shifts she had jotted down on the days, another note had been jotted down in green marker that read 'Granny Visit'. That was indeed coming up wasn't it... "If you can't that's totally cool...I know your job keeps you really bu-" "Actually," Crystalline piped up, quickly cutting her off "Work just gave me some holiday leave so...I can totally be there." "Wait, seriously?" Vinyl replied, a tone of worry in her voice "Isn't that kind of...early to be handing out leave?" Crystalline shook her head against the phone as she quickly said "Oh no no no...it's uh...it's fine. We've really overhit the quota for this month so they were handing out some leave. It's no problem." Vinyl's voice was absolutely dripping with disbelief. She could always tell when her sister was lying, but she never pestered nor pushed for answers. Instead there was a light sigh on the other end followed up by "Well...alright. It'll be really nice to have you back anyway. Grandma asks about you from time to time and Mama says it's been ages since she's heard from you. Oh! Oh oh oh now that I mention Grandma..." She trailed off for a moment, a sudden crunching noise coming through the phone. Crystalline pulled the receiver away for a second before narrowing her eyes, quickly picking up the sound of Vinyl's voice in mid-chew. Manners were never really her strong suit. "Grandma was talking about Grandpa the other day on the phone. It was the anniversary of his passing and she asked me for like, the bazillianth time if you got the letter he wanted you to have. I forwarded to your address awhile ago but you never told me if you got it." There was a pause as another chorus of chewing hit her ears, her voice muffled by whatever she had crammed into her mouth "Would have sent it sooner but it kind of got lost in the paperwork with the other stuff when he died." At this, Crystalline's ears perked up. She looked over on her couch at the high pile of mail sitting upon it. Most of it was junk mail, the mare only ever sifting through it to try and find wayward bills. "Hold on a second...." She muttered, plopping the phone down and hopping off her bed. The letter...the letter...which letter was it? She had been so swamped with work and...work, that she hadn't really any time to reflect much on anything else. She vaguely remembered Vinyl saying that their Grandfather's will contained a letter that was meant for her. She put a hoof on the pile, quickly scattering some advertisement pamphlets out of the way as she wracked her brain for any trace of remembrance. Finally, her hoof settled on a peach colored envelope, her name and address scratched on the front with her Grandparent's names scribbled in the top left hand corner with a stamp of a heart. It was only upon seeing it that the memory quickly returned to her. She had gone through a particularly nasty time at work that day, and had to rush home to beat the heavy thunderstorm scheduled to be cranked out before that night. It didn't particularly help that rent was also due that day, and after collecting her mail from her postbox, must have only given it a passing glance as she fished through the stack for her rent statement. Plucking it up in her mouth, she trotted back to her bed and deposited it on her comforter over the other stacks of paper, hopping back up and grabbing the phone with an expert flick of her wing. "Ok, I found it." She said into the receiver, poking at it with her hoof "I hadn't even opened it yet...I've been so busy I must have forgotten it somewhere down the line." "And the Granddaughter of the year award goes tooooo..." Vinyl teased, chuckling but quickly following it up with a clearing of her throat and a muttered "Sorry." She shook her head as Vinyl went on "Anyway, as long as you got it that's cool! I gotta get going, my next set is due to go live in about thirty minutes and I gotta do an equipment check. Can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks!" "Me either sis'," Crystalline replied, the first genuine smile she displayed in a while passing over her lips "Take care." They said their goodbyes and hung up, leaving the Pegasus alone with the letter. She picked it up, turning it between her hooves and studying it a moment. "Can't believe I didn't remember getting this..." she said with a confused murmur, nudging the back flap open with a careful hoof. A small, folded stack of papers fell out on her bed as she upturned the envelope, her eyes immediately drawn to a statement written in large, bulky hoof writing. 'READ THIS FIRST' Tilting her head slightly, she unfolded the first paper out from around the stack and turned it so she could see the front. It was written in your usual lettered format, and down at the bottom she could already see her Grandfather's signature winking up at her from the page. Peering back up at the top, she read out loud: "Dear Crystalline Dancer, my beautiful Granddaughter, If you're reading this, than I am no longer with you. Know that in my passing, I loved you and your sister more than anything in the whole of Equestria. It was such a joy to see the both of you grow up and reach for your dreams. While Vinyl Scratch pursued her musical career, and you yours in retail...I have to come clean, I was worried. You would often sit on my lap as a young filly and name out the dreams and goals you had for that day, most of them involving being a dancer or a singer, and even a space pony!" Crystalline chuckled, shaking her head as she recalled those simpler days. She found her place again and read on. "But...when you became an adult and you left home, I felt an unease in my heart. I knew, deep down...you weren't going to find happiness out there. The world you were flying into wasn't the one of your dreams, but I was going to try and support you as best as I could regardless. As your Grandfather however, I knew it was my duty to try and help you in whatever way I could to ease the burden I was sure you were going to face, as I myself once had to endure the very same. Crystalline...my precious star, there will come a day when you feel crushed by the burden of modern life...and your bright spirit will fade before a growing emptiness. When that happens, my dear, you'll be ready for the rest of the letter enclosed. Know that, no matter what happens, and no matter what choices you make...I will always love you. With all my heart, your Grandfather, ~Soul Soother." She put down the first paper, sniffing loudly as she wiped her eyes with her foreleg. Her Grandpa was always very sweet to her and Vinyl...always chipper and always there when they hit rock bottom. She was devastated when he passed, her soul yearning to hear his voice at least once more. Maybe that was the true beauty of the colt known as Soul Soother. He always knew exactly what to say to make you smile. She looked at the rest of the papers, an approximate stack of about four of them if she counted correctly. She reached for them, pulling them into her hooves as she pondered on her Grandfather's words. Crushed by the burden of modern life...? Well, she had nearly experienced that in the most literal of senses...and her spirit was nothing but all shot to pieces at this point what with losing her job and her financial future pretty much in absolute ruin. If there was any better time to read this...she couldn't think of one. Unfolding the papers, her eyes took to scanning the next letter. As she got further down, her eyes grew increasingly wider and wider, her mouth hanging open. As she hit the bottom of the page she looked up, her bottom lip quivering as she whispered "No....way..."
