This is what you have worked for. You've wanted this for so long. After doing taxes for most of Ponyville's citizens for free. Balancing the debts of Sweet Apple Acres for meager pay. Being elected as the town treasurer was all just baby steps on the way to getting a real job.

You sent out applications for months, but most turned you down for not having any formal schooling. Or any form of valid identification. Or a birth certificate. Or cause you are the only human in a world of multi-colored marshmallow ponies.

Fucking racists.

EEO would be all over their asses in a heartbeat.

Yet, one company decided to hire you. It's a startup company that makes money from giving customers financial advice. You can give advice! That's one of things you do pretty well!

Moving to Manehattan wasn't that hard for you, but it was especially hard on Fluttershy, the mare in town with an insatiable crush on you. The mare would come to your door every morning, with some new attempt to sweep you off your feet and make you hers. Now you would be too far away for her to have her daily fetish guesses. Of course, you would miss the rest of your friends, but that's what writing letters is for. Good Riddance.

You get out of bed in your brand new one bedroom apartment. The view isn't too bad from here, you were making bank from your new job, so it was easy to afford. Life, right now, was absolutely perfect. The only issue that nags your consciousness was that you knew absolutely nopony here, and you just wanted to share all of this grand luxury with somepony.

You knew some of the mares at work, and they seemed friendly enough. They could easily be considered friends, but if they had more than friendship on their mind, you had absolutely no clue that they did.

"Well. It looks like I'm ready to start my day."

You stand in the middle of your room with only boxers on, and take a deep stretch to wake you up. Work is in one hour, and the commute will take at least 30 minutes if you walk. You could also take the subway too, which is only 15 minutes. The answer seems obvious to you.

Today is the kind of day that you want to get to work early. You strive to impress your boss each and every day. After performing your morning ritual, you prep a basic breakfast for yourself. Just some simple toast that you can cram down your throat. You begin to make a sandwich when you hear your work phone buzzing in the other room. Looking at the caller id, you see it's from your boss.

Oh shit! Good thing you are up early.

Scrambling together a lunch of last night's leftovers into a paper bag, you just about hit the door when you realize you aren't wearing pants.

Shit.

You quickly dress yourself and run out the door. Work phone? Check. Wallet? Check. Id Card? Check. Monthly subway pass? Check.

You get into the apartment elevator, and hit the button for the ground floor. Your dress shirt and slacks make your look damn good today, but you seem to have forgotten to wear your signature tie. The doors close shut, and you still have about 50 minutes till work.

That tie completed you. You have to go back.

Slamming the 'open door' button on the elevator gets you off on the next floor. Running back up the stairs, you get back in your apartment and grab your tie. Thank god you came back, the door was unlocked.

The royal blue accessory just screamed "I want to be the boss some day." After taking one last check of inventory to ensure you have everything you need for the day, you leave the apartment and lock the door. Stepping out, you see your neighbor Mulberry leaving for work as well. Her blue-purple coat was stunning today, and her black hair was done into a tight bun. A new style for her.

"Hey there neighbor! Heading for work?"

She turns to see you. "Yeah. Getting a little bit of a late start though. It's going to stink to walk to work."

The two of you get in the elevator and hit the ground floor. That didn't take you as much time as you thought, you still have about 45 minutes. The elevator ride is fairly quiet. She gives a mild cough, and looks at the number gradually tick down to one. You look at her hair bun and her attention shifts to you.

"Looks nice."

"Huh?" She questions.

"The hairbun," You quickly elaborate. "It looks nice."

She blushes. "Thanks... not even my boyfriend noticed."

You give a warm smile. She returns your warm gesture with silence. Your eyes shift to the floor. Smooth move. With a careful sigh, you shift your feet. It really sucks sometimes to not have anyone special of your own. Everyone that seemed like good marefriend material already had somepony else special in their life.

"Must be nice," You whisper to yourself.

Oh well. You just have to keep on the look out. Somepony out there must be the right one for you. You just gotta believe that. Some day, you will be able to find somepony.

"Anon?"

You look up, breaking your mental reverie.

"This is our floor.” Mulberry informs you.

"Oh... heh. Thanks."

You exit the elevator with her and she gives a light giggle.

"I guess I will see you later then." She says with a wave.

"Yeah. See you later." Turning towards the subway station, you begin your trek to work, unable to see the glance that Mulberry gives you as you walk away. Pulling out your work phone, you see that your boss sent you a text message while you were in the elevator.

"New worker today, hoping that you can train them. - B"

Looks like there is still about 30 minutes till work, and you are now outside the subway station. Your next train leaves in 5 minutes, and the one after is in 10. You still have some time before the train leaves. Looks like you should give the big man a call. Dialing his number, you hear the phone ring.

"Hello this is Brand."

"Hey Brand, it's Anon. Sorry I missed your call. I'm just hopping on the subway now. Could you give me the skinny on the new guy before I get in?"

"Oh yeah, well, actually she kinda wanted me to keep it a surprise. We hired her because she said she knew you, and her scores were amazing, just like yours." He says excitedly on the phone.

"Really? Someone I knew and want it to be a surprise? That's odd. There isn't anything you can tell me other than it's a mare?"

He gives a light chuckle. "Nope. I'm under honor Anon. Just be sure to get here soon. I don't wanna miss a second of this reunion."

You hear a phone click. You put the phone in your pocket. Weird. Normally your boss is very forward with information. This was really out of character.

You manage to make the first train and get a decent seat next to two mares, one of which is holding a small child, while another reads a book over a pair of thick glasses. Who in the world would try to get a job in Manehattan? The only ponies who really friends with you in Ponyville were Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and of course Applejack.

You think over the choices and immediately knock out two of the ponies that simply don't belong. Rainbow and Applejack were amazing friends, but you had to face that math wasn't their forte, and they just couldn't pass the tests. Heck, the very idea of Applejack trying to work a copy machine makes it hard to keep a straight face. Rarity had her own shop that she was running. Unless... it went under. What WOULD Rarity's backup plan be if her store shut down? You shake the terrifying thought out of your head. This job was pretty mundane and uninteresting for Pinkie Pie, so you quickly write her off. Which pretty much leaves Twilight.

She is extremely smart, and helped you train for those exams. Probably one of the smartest ponies that you knew. Even outside of studying, the two of you hung out a lot. You could say that you two were very close friends, almost like brother and sister. A small bump in the track wakes you from your thoughts.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see the book mare look away from you. How long was she looking? Back to thinking deeply about things. What if it wasn't really a friend? What if it was... her? Would Fluttershy really abandon all of her animals? How could she pass all of the tests? You suppose she could have studied with Twilight...

Shake your head violently. No point in assuming the worst just yet. Just try to keep an open mind. Looks like you still got about 5 minutes to your stop. Fifteen minutes until work. Looking around the car, this was the most boring part of your commute to work. Usually you pull out your phone and played a game or something to kill some time.

Yet, today is a little different and you feel a little lonely. You turn to the light brown mare.

"Hey..." She looks at you over her book, seeming to murmur. "Uh... what book are you reading?"

She closes it a little bit and shows you the cover with a smile. The mare opens her mouth as if to say something, but then looks away blushing. She digs herself into the book deeper than she was before. Can you even read when it's that close?

"I don't think I've read that before... What's it called?" You ask curiously.

She plucks up some courage and begins to mutter. "One Way Ticket. It's a love story. Two ponies meet when the mare's train ticket flies in the wind. The stallion catches it and returns it to her. They sit in the same private car on the train and... well. The rest would be spoiling the story."

You give her a warm smile, and she looks at you indirectly, the blush immovable from her face. "That sounds like a story that I would really like. I used to love visiting the library in my old town."

She puts the book into her bag and smiles to you. "Are you new in Manehattan?"

"Yeah. About a month now. I'm still looking for some places to hang around though, and of course new things to read."

"Well, um, I..." She looks to the floor.

"Yeah?"

The fall colored mare blushes and shakes her head. "Nothing, never mind. It was stupid."

There is just something about this mare that strikes a chord inside you. You can't give up that easily. "I'd love if we could read together sometime."

She looks up at you as if you said she won the lottery. "R-really?"

"Yeah. Maybe you should show me around a little bit too."

"S-sure."

She fumbles through her back for her phone. Unlocking it, she hands it to you, and you put your number in. She smiles and takes the phone back, and begins to send a text. You feel your phone vibrate. It's a text from an unfamiliar number. Opening it up. It reads "Wednesday at 7?"

You look up at her. Just her smile alone makes you feel warm.

"Sure. I'll call you."

The subway gradually slows down, and you hear the doors open. She sits up and you join her.

"My name is Anon by the way."

"M-mine is Autumn."

"That's a beautiful name."

"T-thanks." She replies, unsure of how to respond.

Looks like you still got 10 minutes till work, and it takes 5 to get there. As much as you'd love to chat with Autumn, you really gotta get to work.

"Well, I'll call you tomorrow then?"

She nods to you. "I'd like that."

You give a wave good-bye, and begin to ascend the stairs to get to street-level. Turning back, you see that she hasn't taken her eyes off you, and your eyes connect. Both of you smile, and she walks into a wall. God damn that's cute.

Oh shit. You almost forgot about the issue facing you as you head into work. Is it Twilight or Fluttershy? Calling the rapist would be suicide, so looks like you only got one option.

You probably should have called her sooner, she is almost like a sister to you. Of course the two of you were writing to each other, because of the shared enjoyment of reading and writing, but life just gets the better of you sometimes. You dial up the phone number to the Ponyville Library.

It rings. And rings. And rings. Voicemail.

Standing outside work, you look at your phone, wondering if you should redial. Moving inside the massive building, you head straight to the elevators. Let's just get this over with. You swipe your id card to the security gate, and you are at work on time. Hopping into an elevator with several other ponies, you hit your button for the eighth floor. The elevator stops here or there, but the trip is boring.

When you hit the fifth floor, each button up to 8th floor is hit. Looks like it will be a while. Your phone rings. It's Twilight.

Answering the phone, you get irritated sighs from the other passengers in the elevator.

"Hey Twilight, whats up?"

"Anon! I saw you called and just wanted to make sure that you were okay." Twilight replies.

"Yeah! Peachy actually. You just caught me at work.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I'll let you go."

"Nonono, I actually have a question for you." You ask hurriedly, making sure she doesn't hang up first.

"Ask me anything, Anon."

The elevator hits the 7th floor.

"Did you... perhaps apply for an office job?"

The line goes quiet.

"Well, um... I wanted this to be a surprise... but, since you called..."

You knew it. Exiting the elevator much more relaxed, you head for your boss's office.

"I sent in an application last week. I was just inspired to try and aim for a little bit more in life. Plus it means that we could be able to spend time together again."

"That's really good Twilight. I'm really happy for you!" You answer happily. You walk right up to the boss's closed door.

"Yeah! So I have an interview next week with the Mayor!"

You freeze.

"Of Ponyville?" You ask for her to elaborate.

"Yeah! Isn't that great!" She replies excitedly.

You stutter over your words.

"That's great... Uh... you haven't seen Fluttershy around have you?"

"Oh, uhm. Uh. I think I have someone coming Anon. Back to the Library! See you later!" The phone clicks.

You shove the phone back into your pocket. There is no way. No. Way.

You shakily place your hand on the handle, and turn. As you slowly open the door, you see Brand smiling at his desk.

"Anon! Good Morning. I'm sure introductions aren't necessary..." Your boss happily says.

You open the door all the way to see... her. She wears her hair tied up into a tight ponytail, and is wearing a pair of faux glasses. Her work attire screams the sexy secretary look. She leaps up and wraps her hooves around you.

"Sweetie! I've missed you so much!"