CHAPTER ONE

Prologue

"— and then they sacked me! Can you believe that? They sacked me, the one and only Rainbow Dash, for 'repeated avoidance of my responsibilities to the town of Ponyville'!"

Rainbow Dash snorted and crossed her forelegs, glaring across the table at her friends who were looking at her with raised eyebrows.

"Ya can't seriously be blamin' yer boss fer this mess y'all have gotten into," Applejack groaned. "If'n ya remember, ya got fired fer not providin' that rainstorm Ah was promised for the farm."

"Yes, the rainstorm which you were supposed to divert away from my fashion show!" Rarity huffed. "I'll never be able to look Fancy Pants in the eye again, not after his exquisite jacket was ruined by that horrific deluge!"

Rainbow Dash waved a hoof dismissively. "So I made a mistake," she snapped. "Big deal."

"But what about all the naps you kept taking while you were supposed to be working?" Twilight enquired. "Surely they would have contributed to your dismissal as well?"

"I need a job that caters to my athletic and awesome nature," Dash said, completely ignoring Twilight's question. "And that job doesn't involve clouds — be that kicking them, pushing them or jumping on them to make them rain."

"But what are you going to do while you look for a new job?" Fluttershy asked timidly. "It could be a while... do you have enough bits to support both you and Tank?"

Dash nodded. "I've got enough to last the week," she replied. "But since I'm so awesome, it won't even take me a day to find a new job." She struck a pose and flexed her wings. "Ponies will be falling over their hooves to employ me."

"You hope," Twilight said flatly. "Otherwise you'll run out of money and be forced to claim unemployment benefits while you find a—"

"Unemployment what?" Dash interrupted. "What do you mean?"

Twilight sighed. "You've never heard of unemployment benefit?" Dash shook her head. "Unemployment benefit, or Jobseeker's Allowance to give it its proper title, is a government scheme designed to help ponies who are unemployed. It consists of a fortnightly payment of bits into your bank account, and is intended to help you pay bills while you seek gainful employment."

"How do I apply?" Dash said quickly, getting into Twilight's face and destroying any notion of personal space. "This sounds like something that could be useful."

"You have to apply online," Twilight replied as she backed away slightly. "But it's not as easy as you think, Rainbow Dash. There are many rules and regulations in place in order to—"

"Pfft," Dash scoffed. "You let me worry about a few silly rules and regulations." She picked up a quill and a piece of parchment from Twilight's desk. "Now tell me their website, and I'll give it a look when I get home later." Twilight sighed and reluctantly gave Dash the information, which she scribbled onto the parchment before tucking it into her saddlebag. "Thanks, Twi. Now I'm gonna go do some training before heading back. See ya later, girls."

She spread her wings and took off, leaving the library via an open window. Rarity was the first to break the silence that followed.

"How long do you think it will be before they drive her to the very brink of insanity?" she asked. "My guess is two weeks."

"Nah," Applejack said. "Ah reckon she won't last a few days."

The five mares all grinned at each other for a few moments, before finally falling over in a fit of giggles.