You get an interview! But will they accept your ID, and your story? You're going through a transition. That wasn't even a lie, right? You still looked like yourself, if you had been born with an XX instead of an XY. You just cross your fingers and head in hoping for the best.

You hadn't forgotten your new friend. The new job may help with that! They were a non-profit that specialized in helping people get off the street. Absolutely perfect! Why did you get a cold wash down your back when you stepped through the sliding doors?

Nervous. You had gotten so used to being retired; you forgot most of what it's like to work, even part time, assuming you even get hired.

You walk up to the counter with a hopeful smile. "Hello. I'm here for an interview."

The bored person at the front perked up. "Oh, yeah. Through there." He pointed through a door and scratched at some rash he had along his arm. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Some small part of you wanted to help with that rash, but that'd come off as super strange, and attract the wrong attention, and also, did we mention, it'd just be weird. Nah. You walk past, pushing through into the back hallway. The front had been well lit and clean. The back, dim and far less spotless. Was it even the same place? You see a door with a 'meeting' plaque on the right side. That has to be it, right?

Inside is a fairly normal office desk and some chairs. You help yourself to one and settle down to wait. It doesn't take long for a knock to announce the arrival of a man in a sharp business suit. "Welcome." He says your name. "On time, even early. Already a good first sign." You'd worked long enough to know showing up on time was the bare minimum requirement! A pity they had a hard time getting people to even do that. "Found us alright?"

"No problem at all." It had just been a short drive from your house. Quite convenient really. Just a ride towards the nearest city. "I'm looking forward to helping some people out."

"How charming." He made a note on a clipboard. "Now, the basics. Can you lift 50 pounds?" You nod. Regaining your youth had returned that to easy. "Stand for extended periods?" You nod. "Can you provide legal proof of your ability to work?"

Crap. You fish out your ID. "Here you go."

He takes it with a flick of his fingers, turning it in the motion to face himself. "This... is not you. Now, look. We get undocumenteds once in a while, no big deal." He folded the ID away.

"I need that." Losing your ID wasn't part of the plan. "And that's really mine."

"I said it's no big deal." The door opens behind him, allowing two other men inside with strange looks in their eyes, as if they were past hungry. "You're hired."

There are no good feelings coming from this. "I... still need that ID, but I'm glad to hear that."

"No, you don't." He turned away from you as the others advanced.

Sharp teeth and malicious intentions are the end of you.

But that's hardly where we want to end this story. Let's turn back a page or two. There were a few hints, a few other paths we could have taken to avoid this lamentable fate.

You get an interview! But will they accept your ID, and your story? You're going through a transition. That wasn't even a lie, right? You still looked like yourself, if you had been born with an XX instead of an XY. You just cross your fingers and head in hoping for the best.

You hadn't forgotten your new friend. The new job may help with that! They were a non-profit that specialized in helping people get off the street. Absolutely perfect! Why did you get a cold wash down your back when you stepped through the sliding doors?

You slide your vision, tuning the channel. You had learned how to see into the spirit world properly, but that's not where you're headed. Sundown comes into view, looking terrified. He has not entered the building. He sees that you see him though. "Get out!" he yelps, waving back onto the street. "Go go go!"

Sundown hasn't led you astray yet. You check your watch as if just noticing something and grunt, heading right back outside. The people at the counter don't even look up. Outside, you start walking away from the place, towards your car. "Can you tell me why I'm giving up that job so quickly?"

"I never felt so many heebies!" He hurried up at your side. "I was afraid you'd go in there and never come out..."

"That bad?" You struggle to imagine what was lurking in there. "I just want to earn a few dollars and help."

"You have a good heart. I'd like it to not get eaten..." He worries his hands together, walking along on his hind feet. "Try another, and let me check it out before you come, just to be sure. I'm your dream. If you go, I may go too."

Was that how that worked? You had no evidence one way or the other.

"Lady," grunts a familiar voice, a figure from the shadows emerging with a familiar blade. It's that chimeric job, held by the one in the red cap. "You are sending me real crossed signals, and I hate it. You also made me chase you halfway across the state." You did not drive that far! "And I hate it..."

"You hate a lot of things..."

"And I may hate you." He takes a step towards you. "But we're gonna find that out. First, that." He angles the dagger towards Sundown. "You can see that, right?"

"You're scaring him." He's scaring you too! But Sundown's shivering form is a convenient other thing to think about.

"That's a yes, and I hate that..." What didn't that guy hate? "Follow me, or I have my answer." He flicks the blade into a withdrawn state, no longer threatening you with it. "Or run. Running's an option, but I already know where you live."

Wow, you are not getting good feelings from this guy. Still, when you take a step, Sundown does too. He wouldn't follow you into the job interview. A sign? You decide to take it as one. "Do you threaten everyone you run into?"

"The people I like, or the people I hate." He only leads a short distance into the alleyway, out of easy sight of the road. "Now, you are not one of us, so what are you?"

Sundown slips to your side. "She's a really nice person that's trying to do nice things."

"Only reason we're talking." He leans back against the brick wall. "So out with it."

Well, advertising to the world was not the idea, but he was clearly not part of 'the world' in the normal sense. Still... "Just a little off balance."

"And hoarse!" pipes out Sundown.

The man peers at our 'pet'... dream? dragon. "Was that a pun?"

"Maybe." Sundown did his best to look innocent.

"You're a pony? I heard of those..." He tucks the dagger away. "Don't hate those." Oh, finally, something he doesn't hate. "The fuck is a pony doing walking into that place?"

Did everyone on that side of things know about that place? "I was trying to get a job?"

"You don't want any job they're offering." He cracks his knuckles, glaring at you viciously. "If you're lucky, you just don't come out. Most aren't lucky, and wish that happened. Think I'm being dramatic? I ain't, hate that." Another thing to add to the hate tally. "You an artsy type?"

Artsy type? "No... Helpful, as Sundown said."

"That's me." Sundown looks so proud to have been called by name.

"Yeah... So who were you helping?" He shrugs, one hand going up in a shrug. "Don't see that place helpin' anyone but someone get hurt, or a few dollars. which were you aiming for?"

"Neither of those options..." That sure wasn't the plan. "I know a homeless man, thought I'd get involved in a--"

"Shit." He pushes off the wall. "Shit. Fuck... Damn... You fell for it. You took the hook and they were reeling you in. This is why there aren't that many horses around." He kicks a can down the alleyway, sending it bouncing off a trash bin. "Fuck!"

"Feel bad for you, really do." He turns back to you. "But this ain't my problem."

"Hello."

"Fucking hell..." He glares at Sundown. "Your little friend is reminding me it is my problem. I hate that... Whatever. Fuck, whatever... You want to help, go home. I'll arrange something with people that know that kind of thing better than me. Listen, I fuck shit up. It's what I do! I like to think I'm good at it, but that isn't what we need today, right? I'm not stupid. So go home."

You could argue with the angry man, or just head home, and one of those felt like the smarter idea. He doesn't stop you from leaving the alleyway. You never find out if you would have gotten the job, but you don't bother calling in to find out.

You hurry for the door and its light knocks. "Coming!" Throwing it open, you are face to face with a smiling young adult man. "Hello?"

"Hi! I hear you are a real expert on horses and I could use some help with that." He steps inside and closes the door as if that's a normal thing to do. "Can you help me?"

A strange start at best... "Depends on the horse?" Were they a pony? You had no trick to detect a fellow pony.

"A real rascal! Gets into trouble, all the time really... but he isn't so bad, usually." He rubs at his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm..."

You flip to life vision, and he's a bright young form of vibrant energy. Spirit-side, perfectly normal. Sundown appears, and the man changes as you switch to that frequency. He has two long pony ears sprouting up through his hair. He still looks cheerful and welcoming, if uncannily inhuman. "Oh. You're like that person with the red cap?"

His eyes widened. "Oh!" he echoed as you did. "So you can... I felt something, a whisper, a scream? You are at least half awake, seeing the dream in that funny way." He wriggled a few fingers at you. "But I'm here because I hear a good horsie wants to get a good job, helping people!"

Sundown hops forward at the horse person. "You smell nice." He sniffs at the horse-eared person without a shred of reservation. "I like it."

"I like it too," the horse man giggles out. "What a special horsie, having an imaginary friend. Very special... or insane. One or the other."

"What does that make someone who has a conversation with the imaginary friend?"

He considers your words. "Good point... So! Job. You wanted one?"

He's putting out way less creepy vibes than that place you almost went into. "Sure, if it can help people out." You extend a hand, but he isn't reaching to take it, instead looking at your pictures on the wall.

"Who's that?" He's gaping at the pictures. Of you and of your departed wife. "Not very vain, huh?"

No pictures of your modern self... "Long story... Very long."

"I love long stories. A long story from a horse with a long face? The absolute best." He twirls to face you. "Regale me! I'll repay with telling you about the job. That's fair, right? Completely fair. Entirely. Only a fool would even consider denying it."

Sundown wilted. "Oh no... I guess I'm a fool then."

You pet the poor dragon on the head. "You're just fine. So, what do you know about ponies?"

Author's Note

The herd has spoken! Part-time job for you! That could have gone better, but you did end up getting a job, yay! You have a new longterm goal. Part of me is thinking this isn't really a decision point... Am I off on that? Lemme know!

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