The sun had set long ago. It was already 11 p.m. and inching closer towards midnight as Ember arrived home from work. She pushed the door closed behind her with a claw and gazed into the dark room. Sighing, she reached over towards the wall behind her and struggled to find the switch. There was a sudden click as light flooded the room, momentarily blinding her as her eyes adjusted. After a few moments of standing still to decompress, she took off her hat and placed it on the hanger by the door. She began to wander towards the center of the room and quickly found her way onto the couch with a resounding thump followed by a long dragged out groan. Ember stretched out her long wings and began to massage them with her claws, almost cooing in pleasure. She wasn’t necessarily an average looking griffin by standards. Her soft brown coat was rather typical, but what set her apart were her unique feathers that accented her head and made up her wings. They were a deep orange at the base and blended smoothly into a golden yellow at the tips. When they were fully extended, a lot of ponies stared, giving Ember’s ego a bit of a boost.

Blue Stroke, a unicorn mare with a blue coat, vibrant green eyes, two-toned blue mane and tail, and a coffee mug cutie mark, peeked her head around the corner of the doorway to the kitchen. “Ember, you’re finally home. How was work?”

“Tiring. Very tiring. Whoever said owning your own company is easy work is a filthy liar. My wings are sore, my legs are cramping, and I think my neck needs an ice pack,” Ember responded from the couch.

“That bad huh?” Blue asked. Ember simply nodded in response, still spread out wide on the couch. “Well, maybe this will cheer you up.” Blue levitated two bowls of steaming stew around the corner, bringing a smile to Ember’s face. She walked out of the kitchen with the stew in tow behind her and sat in the small chair beside the large couch. The smell was intoxicating. Blue levitated a bowl over to Ember and she gripped it in her talons. Almost immediately she started to down the stew in the bowl. By the time she pulled her face away from the bowl most of it was already gone. Ember looked up to see Blue giving her an understanding smile. “Anyways… Tell me about your day.”

Ember started to take Blue through her day. She went on about the morons that are her clients and how she’s sick of dealing with some of them, and about almost having a crate fall on her head from above when that grey wall-eyed mare dropped it while helping to move a neighbor. Ember often complained extensively about the Ponyville Postal Service in general.

After finishing the stew and thanking Blue for making it, Ember headed upstairs for a hot shower, leaving Blue alone to do whatever it was that Blue did on her own. Dishes, she assumed. Or at least she hoped so. Blue really needed to get her mind off of life and just relax a bit. Celestia knows things had not been going the way the blue mare had envisioned, and she found that doing the dishes allowed her to unwind a bit and process her thoughts.

Upstairs, Ember began to go about her evening, preparing for a much needed night of rest. Fortunately, she didn’t work the next day; she had a part-timer working for her to cover at least two days a week so she didn’t lose her mind. Well, no more than she had already, at least. Exiting the shower, she spread her wings wide to dry and knocked a cup off the sink, causing her to let out numerous colorful swears pertaining to Luna’s nether regions. After cleaning it up with a grumble, she headed back downstairs only to find Blue sprawled out all over the couch on her back watching TV, yet again. A few jabs with a wingtip got her to scoot over and make room. On TV tonight was their favorite show to watch, The Little Boom Hypothesis.

Ember glanced over at Blue and thought back to how quiet her house used to be before Blue moved in several months ago…

Blue Stroke graduated as a Literature major from the university of Pranceton over a year ago. She was one the youngest graduates ever in Equestrian history, second only to A.K. Yearling, whom Blue had mentioned before as being one of her greatest inspirations. Blue had been rather successful in school. Her only problem was that sometimes ponies would tell her that she had problems staying devoted; that all too often she would start something and give up on it later. Even so, she managed to graduate near the top of her class.

Soon after her graduation, she hired Ember to move her stuff from her dorm at Pranceton to a temporary small apartment in Ponyville, where Blue thought she’d be able to find plenty of writing material. After all, Ponyville was known as Equestria’s most abnormal village. During the trip, Blue went on and on about how she had these big plans for writing countless novels and tales and how she was going to be crazy successful, and Ember simply listened. Through talking, they had grown to be friends rather quickly, and they even shared some laughs along the way. After unloading everything at Blue's apartment, they agreed to keep in touch and exchanged information. Blue was set to find a good job working for a publisher, or attempt to become a self-employed author if all else failed.

A few months later, Blue had found herself still without steady work and an ever-depleting, if not empty, bag of bits. With no promise of work on the horizon, barely enough money for one more month of rent and food, one of her parents deceased and the other on the other side of the country in Las Pegasus, she was left with no clear alternatives. While packing up her things with no obvious goal in mind, Blue came across Ember’s card she got way back when they first met. Thinking she might at least know somepony who could help her out, Blue gave the griffon a call and asked if they could meet up sometime soon.