Bubble stood in front of the door to the CEO's office, trying to muster up the courage to knock.

Come on, Bubble! In and out, all you gotta do is get that contract, then you can go home and cry yourself to sleep. Just gotta knock.

She raised a hoof to the door. . .

. . .and lowered it.

Maybe now is a bad time. The boss is probably busy doing. . .demon things. I could slip a letter under the door, asking him to mail it to me? Wait, I don't want that thing to know my address!

She was broken from her thoughts when a flaking tendril slipped under the door and tapped her muzzle.

Bubble's heart rate skyrocketed as it retreated back through the door.

A few moments passed, but she didn't dare move.

She felt like she just brushed against Death itself.

How long did it know I was here? Why now? Is it getting impatient?

The thought of earning that thing's ire by loitering in front of its office was enough to jolt her into action.

She slowly pushed open the door, the tension in the air not helped by the incessant creaking of the wood.

"M-Mister Straits? Or do y-you prefer Qliphoth?"

Vine-like tendrils were spread throughout the room, crawling across the floor and climbing the walls, each leaving their own trail of necrotic flakes.

Her eyes traced the vines to their source, but they disappeared behind the desk.

Multiple spires of bones loosely bound together with ligaments stood tall behind that same desk. Flaps of skin covered in brown fur hung from the spires in pairs, thick tendons attaching them firmly to the bone stems.

In the middle of the macabre flowerbed stood the same peeled monstrosity that Bubble had ran away from earlier, softly swaying to a breeze she couldn't feel.

Bubble's body refused to take another step. The idea of willingly getting closer to that thing wasn't just a bad idea, it was a logical impossibility. Inconceivable to her rational and primal minds.

One of the vines fell from the wall, landing with a quiet crunch.

It slithered to the main host of the flowerbed, climbing up the esophagus fused to the mat of meat.

It slipped down into the cavernous throat, its length shortening as it fell, before eventually growing taut. If it wasn't anchored to the mass of flesh on the ground, it likely would have never stopped descending.

The bed of meat started writhing, convulsing as the flower host ceased its gentle swaying.

The tendril started retracting at an unnatural speed, before it emerged from the maw wrapped around a rolled-up paper.

The swaying resumed, and the tendril unceremoniously tossed the contract at Bubble, the paper landing a short distance from her.

The tendril fell limp, all movement in the room ceased except for the flower's swaying.

Bubble shakily let out a breath of. . .not quite relief, but of released tension.

She tried to offer a 'thank you' to it, but no words came out.

She grabbed the contract with her magic and exited the room at a pace just short of a sprint.

——————————————————————<

Bubble had to take a moment to adjust as she stepped out of the building onto the busy streets. The morning rush was nearing its end, café owners were taking well-needed breaks outside their stores, and hawkers for the Manehatten Times were shouting their prices.

All in all, it was a perfectly average day. And that scared Bubble.

How long were the demons working here for?

How long were they hiding in plain sight?

She passed by a hawker on her way back home.

The colt had a coat the color of ash, matching well with the gray cap he tipped at her, "Mornin' miss! Bit for the paper?"

She levitated a bit from her saddlebags to the colt's own. The colt said something to her, likely thanking her for her patronage, but her mind was elsewhere. Bubble took the paper, scanning the front page as she walked.

'Governor Hard Knock to raise taxes!'

'Debates over new Welfare ordinance to continue Saturday!'

'Crime rates fall! Manehatten runner-up for safest Equestrian city!'

The average pony would be comforted by dull headlines like these, especially the last one.

Bubble only felt a gnawing sense of dread.

She crumpled the paper up and threw it in a nearby trash bin.

Were there more places like that in Manehatten? In Equestria?

She dismissed the ominous question as soon as it arose. She didn't want to know.

——————————————————————<

Bubble let out an exhausted sigh as she pushed open the door to her apartment.

Well, their apartment. But Thyme was likely catching up on the sleep she missed during yesterday's night shift, leaving everywhere but the bedroom to Bubble.

Maybe it's for the best, it's not like I can explain why I'm such a mess after a measly interview. She noted to herself as she opened the fridge, casually throwing her contract onto the counter.

We should have some leftovers in here from last night. I think there should be a sandwich left.

Exactly like Bubble thought, there was indeed a sandwich.

Bubble grew a small smile despite how horrific her day was. Sometimes you just have to take the little victories.

With a contented hum, she took the sandwich in her magic and took a seat on the couch. Normally she'd get on Thyme's case for doing exactly this, but she earned this, damn it!

As she ate, she couldn't help but notice the dark stains in her previously white fur, shuddering slightly as she thought about just how much of the secretion had soaked in.

Food can wait, I gotta get this stuff out of my coat. She decided as she got up, putting the half-eaten sandwich on the coffee table in front of the couch.

The walk to the bathroom was short, on account of how small their apartment was. The terrible housing market of Manehatten had a lot to do with that, but she and Thyme had gotten used to it.

She slowly shut the door behind her, trying not to make too much noise. She hadn't seen her when she walked in, so Bubble was willing to bet her roommate was sleeping the day away in the bedroom.

Maybe her discretion was a bit pointless, considering she was about to risk waking her up anyways by running the bath, but it's the thought that counts, right? Besides, it'd just be a quick wash. She'd be in and out before Thyme noticed.

——————————————————————<

An hour had passed, and Bubble was getting desperate.

"Come ON!" She squeezed another dollop of shampoo onto the sponge before furiously rubbing it into her coat.

After 45 straight minutes of cleaning and an ungodly amount of shampoo, the last stain finally gave way to Bubble's soapy onslaught, fading away until her coat was back to a pure white.

It had been a hard-fought war, with many strained screams of frustration, but she finally emerged victorious!

She let out a sigh of relief and crawled out of the bath, her horn lighting up as a drying spell wicked away the moisture from her fur.

She pulled the bathroom door open, only to be met with an unamused and very tired Thyme on the other side.

"Enjoy your bath, Bubble?" Thyme asked, her tone sickly sweet yet still sharper than a knife.

The pegasus' eyes were slightly bloodshot, and her black feathers were both literally and metaphorically ruffled at the interruption of her rest.

Bubble shrunk under her gaze, "Oh, Thyme! I, uh, wasn't trying to wake you. I thought I was being quiet, I swear!"

Thyme nodded along, "Right, which is why you quietly cleaned yourself at a reasonable pace, without doing something silly like — oh, I don't know — shouting loud enough to wake a sleeping ursa."

Bubble laughed nervously, "Y-Yep! Anyways, it was good to see ya, but you should probably go back to sleep. Need your rest and all that, right?"

Thyme scowled, and for a moment, Bubble could've sworn the room just dropped a few degrees.

"Don't you have some supplies to get for your new job, Bubble?"

"I. . .don't think so? I mean, they had all the important stuff," she answered, caught off guard by the sudden non-sequitur.

"No, I really think you should go out shopping for a bit. Preferably until I've gotten more than a couple hours of sleep."

"That's an odd time frame, but I'm still pretty sure I won't need to buy any-"

"Bubble, if you don't leave me to my sleep in the next ten seconds, I'm going to break something."

——————————————————————<

Bubble marched along the store's shelves, eyeing each product like a general inspecting his troops. She had been. . .distracted during her tour of the office, so she wasn't paying attention to things like the flooring and general environment.

And now? She was paying for those mistakes.

Wait, was the floor hardwood or tiled?

She looked back and forth from a string and sponge mop.

On one hoof, the string mop would be able to get in between the cracks of a tiled floor, but would also risk leaving an unprotected hardwood floor with more moisture than it could dry, leaving the rest to seep into the porous wood.

On the other hoof, the sponge mop was far better at cleaning up typical office spills and was more suited for not leaving hardwood with too much moisture. It was, however, absolutely terrible when it came to cleaning tiles, often leaving them even more dirty than they were before they had been mopped.

After a few more seconds of internal debate, she decided to just get the both of them. Her old string mop was probably due for a replacement anyways.

Alright, I've got mops for the floor, now what about soap?

She knew she had more than enough vinegar at home. Sure, vinegar was acidic and weakens the protective sealants on the wood, but she can always just apply more coats before the damage got too bad.

But if the floors were tiled, specifically something natural like marble, she'd definitely need something with a neutral pH if she didn't want to literally dissolve it. Mild dish soap would work fine in that case.

She considered buying a broom as she took her haul back to the shopkeeper, but the one she kept around the apartment wasn't really in need of a replacement just yet.

She couldn't keep a small smile off her muzzle as she checked out her new supplies at the register.

Despite everything, it still felt good to be back in the swing of things. Bubble was damn good at cleaning and proud of it, and no amount of demons could ever change that.

——————————————————————<

The door shut behind Bubble softly, the latter of which was making extra sure to keep to the carpeted areas of the floor.

Her horn glowed softly as her contract floated to her from the counter. Her eyes scanned the contents, glazing past the legal jargon to focus purely on the practical details.

Let's see here. . .hours are nine to five, responsible for maintaining a clean and safe environment in the workplace, blah blah bl- wait, 'responsible for disposing of disciplined employees'? What does that even mean?

. . .Eh, probably just a typo or something.

She set the contract back down on the counter as she maneuvered her way through the apartment. She had made sure to stay quiet before, but now that she was at the door to the bedroom, she had essentially become a phantom with how little noise she was making.

The door was pushed open at a snail's pace, revealing the room she and her roommate shared. A window faced the street with the curtains pulled tight to block the dim evening light from spilling into the room.

Two beds were placed on each end of the sparsely decorated room, each with their own nightstand and alarm clock.

Bubble spied Thyme's peacefully sleeping form on the farthest bed from the window. A thick cotton blanket was pulled over her entire body, serving as the last line of defense against the daylight that threatened her sleep.

Bubble softly made her way to her own bed, climbing it and nestling under her comparatively lightweight covers. A glance at the clock on her nightstand as she set her alarm told her it was only 6 P.M.

Normally she wouldn't go to bed this early, but the day had drained her more than she thought.

Her eyes flickered shut, and her mind drifted to sleep.

. . .For about 3 hours.

RING

Her eyes shot open.

RING

She heard muffled curses from the other side of the room.

R-

And then a loud crash.

"You didn't-" Bubble paused to let out a yawn, "-Break another clock, did you?"

The only response she got was Thyme's tired grumbling as the pegasus dug through her nightstand's drawer for her badge.

"Have fun," she mumbled as she tried to force herself back to sleep.

"Fun? I sit in an empty store all night looking for thieves. If I'm having fun, something probably went very wrong."

"Fine, then be miserable."

Thyme snorted, "You too, Miss Maid."

Bubble rolled over in her bed to glare at her, "Call me that again and I'll go back to making time puns."

Thyme turned away and trotted out of the room, hiding the glimmer of fear that flashed across her eyes at the mention of the verbal abuse Bubble called 'puns'.

With her roommate working, Bubble was now well and truly alone.

Her eyes flickered shut, and her mind drifted to sleep.

. . .For real this time.

Author's Note

This chapter was actually meant to come out yesterday, if it weren't for a surprise invite to my neighbor's grad party. They did have a pool table, though!