At the office

	It was the week before the Equestria Games was to begin, and there was plenty of work to be done. Dignitaries needed train tickets, and lunch reservations. Ponies were calling in and asking directions, or whether or not there was a hotel in the Crystal City that wasn’t completely booked.

	The office was buzzing, and Coco Pommel was one of the busiest ponies of them all. She had never expected that life would turn out this way. After her new fashion line in Manehatten had been a massive flop, she had gone to Ponyville to visit her friend Rarity. Coco had mentioned that she was looking for a job, and Rarity had mentioned that Ms. Harshwhinny, the inspector of the Equestria Games, needed an assistant.

	So, here she was. Coco was surprised that she had made it this far. Being an assistant to Suri Polomare had been terrible, and degrading, but it was nothing like this. It didn’t have anything to do with Ms. Harshwhinny; this job was just non-stop. Coco wasn’t a lazy pony, but she was pretty sure that she could be a construction worker and go home less exhausted at the end of the day.

	Luckily, she had a bit of time to herself this morning, as Ms. Harshwhinny had not shown up yet. The boss was allowed to come into work at any time she pleased, and this morning three hours had gone by without so much as a trace of her.

	Coco was actually beginning to get worried. Was Ms. Harshwhinny at a meeting Coco had forgotten about? What if she needed something? Coco had been putting fresh coffee on the boss’s desk every fifteen minutes for the last hour and a half.

	At ten seventeen, Ms. Harshwhinny finally arrived. Coco rushed over to her, opening the planner that contained the days’ events.

	Without so much as a hello (Ms. Harshwhinny didn’t care much for formalities), Coco began speaking. “Alright, so at noon you have your weekly meeting with Princess Cadence. At three is the decorations committee.”

	“Ah.” Ms. Harshwhinny replied.

	“So when do you want to work in the meeting with Cloudsdale’s delegation?” Coco inquired.

	“Ahh.” Ms. Harshwhinny said, again.

	“Ms. Harshwhinny?” They were in front of the boss’s personal office now. Ms. Harshwhinny opened the door, ignoring Coco.

	“Aaah… AAAH…” Coco’s boss went into her office, shutting the door behind her. What was going on? Coco could hear a strange sound coming from the office… “Aaaahsh! Hiiiaaahsshh!”

	Then, it dawned on her. Ms. Harshwhinny was sneezing. This was the first time Coco had ever heard her boss sneeze. Hopefully she wasn’t coming down with something.

	The door creaked open. “Ceh… Coco… A waaah.. Waahh.. word with you?”

	Coco darted inside and closed the door, just in time for Ms. Harshwhinny to start another sneezing fit. “HIIIAAAHSHH!-oooh… AAAAHCHH!-ooo… Ahh.. Aaah…”

	Ms. Harshwhinny’s sneezes were a lot louder without a door in between them. Coco didn’t know what she was supposed to say. She just stood there as Ms. Harshwhinny’s head tilted back, a sneezy expression on her face. “GGAHHHTTSHH!-hoooo…”

	“Coco…” Ms. Harshwhinny said, through gritted teeth, “Get rid of theeeEEEEAAAAAHHCHH!-ooo…”

	For the first time, Coco noticed the massive bouquet of flowers in a vase on Ms. Harshwhinny’s desk. “Oh I’m so sorry! Right away Ms. Harshwhinny!”

	“Ahh.. Aaah..” Ms. Harshwhinny hitched. “AHH.. AHHH.. AAAHHH…”

	Coco grabbed the vase, but in her haste to get it away from her boss, she dropped it. Luckily, it landed right side up, and the vase didn’t shatter. Unluckily, a cloud of pollen rose from it, and it launched Ms. Harshwhinny into an ear-splitting scream of a sneeze.

	“GGAARRRRRRAAAHCHHHHHH!-ooo… HAAHSH-HAAHSH-HAAAAHHSSHH!-oooo… Ahhh… Aaaahhh.. AHAAH…” Coco’s boss waved with her hoof, signaling that the flowers needed to be gone. “HIIYAAAHHTSHH!-ooo…”

	Coco hurriedly grabbed the vase and ran outside. She looked around, and locked eyes with one of the interns. For the first time, Coco noticed that there were similar vases of flowers all over the office. There must have been a delivery. “Blueberry Pie, take these. I don’t care what you were doing, your new job is to find every vase of flowers in the office and throw it in the dumpster.”

	“But…” The blue mare began.

	“No, this is coming from the boss herself. It’s of utmost importance that this gets done immediately. Anyone who tells you otherwise can answer to Ms. Harshwhinny.” Coco replied sternly. The intern darted off.

	Coco returned to Ms. Harshwhinny’s office, just in time to see her boss’s head reared back for another massive sneeze. Her lips curled back, and her teeth gritted together as she exploded. “HAAAAHHTCH!-ooo…”

	Coco pulled a tissue out of a nearby box, and held it to Ms. Harshwhinny’s nose. Coco began to rub her boss’s reddened nostrils with the tissue, hoping to soothe her urge to sneeze. “Ms. Harshwhinny, can you please blow for me?”

	Ms. Harshwhinny began to blow her nose, but her nostrils flared up and she released a sudden sneeze. “HHAAAHCHH!-ooooh…”

	The tissue was blown to pieces, and mucus sprayed everywhere, including onto Coco.

	“Sahh… AHHH… Sohhorry dear…” Ms. Harshwhinny hitched. It was Coco who felt sorry. Her boss was suffering miserably, caused by something which could have been solved well before she came in.

	“I’m sorry that there were flowers all over. I shouldn’t have let that happen.” Coco murmured.

	Ms. Harshwhinny shook her head, and sneezed. “AAAHTSSHH!-ooo… Chrysanthemums. And you couldn’t haah… AHH.. HAAAH… HAAAAHSHH!-hooo… have known.”

	“If I was a mahh… more paranoid mare, I wou… Ahh.. would think it was mahhahh… malicious. But nopony in the Ahh… the Ahaah… THEAAAH! the office could have paaAAHH-ssibly known.” Ms. Harshwhinny’s head tilted back, and her tongue pressed into her cheek. “Oh hah-heavens, I hahh.. have to… have to… HAFTASNEEEEZE… AHHAAH! KERRRAAAAAAHHHCCHHH!-HOOOoooo… Whew!”

	 “We need to get you out of here.” Coco said.

	“AHHHCHH!-ooo… I ahh.. AHH.. HAAAHHSSHH!-hewww… can’t go out there. I’m a wreck.” Her boss replied. She was telling the truth. Her eyes were all puffy and pink, and her nose was almost purple, it was so red. Her nostrils were slick with mucus.

	“So what is your plan? Just sit in here all day and sneeze until everypony leaves?” Coco asked, incredulously.

	Ms. Harshwhinny nodded. “AAHTCHH!-hooo… You’ll need to cancel ahh… Ahh… AHH… all of my appointments. TryahhAHH… andreeeeeSSSCHHAAHH!-ooo… Try and reschedule if you can. Ahh… AAHH…”

	“Ms. Harshwhinny, no offense, but that’s a really stupid plan.” Coco said. “Even if you want to cancel the meetings, you need to get out of here or you’ll get even worse than this.”

	“KKAAAAHHSSHHH!-oooo…” Ms. Harshwhinny replied.

	“I have an idea.” Coco said, and walked out of the office.

---

	“HAHHHCHH!-ooo…” Came the muffled sneeze. Ms. Harshwhinny was hidden in a food cart, with a sheet draped over it. So as not to arouse suspicion, the cart was carrying a half-eaten tray of cookies. “Ahh.. Are you sure this is a good idea? Hahh.. AAHCHHH!-oo…”

	“Just trust me.” Coco said. “Now are you almost ready?”

	“One more… Ahh.. AHH.. AAAHH! AAAAAHHHCHHH!-yewww…” Ms. Harshwhinny sneezed. “Coco I swear if I sneeze out there I will fire you.”

	Coco reached a hoof through the part in the cloth and rubbed her boss’s nose with a tissue. Hopefully, she was joking. “Don’t worry about it.”

	The pair set out into the office floor, heading for the elevator. It was quite a distance away, and before long, Coco could hear Ms. Harshwhinny’s breath hitching under the cart. “Ahh.. Aah…”

	Coco stopped the cart and soothed her boss’s angry nostrils. Ponies were giving her funny looks, but it was unlikely that they knew what was going on. She began pushing the cart again, but they barely made it ten feet before Ms. Harshwhinny began again. “AHH…”

	There was nothing to be done besides stop the cart and help her. This time, it took Coco a little longer to get the sneeze to retreat. “AHH… HAAH… Haaa…”

	Coco picked up her pace. They were only about twenty feet from the elevator, when the hitching came again. “Aaah…”

	Coco reached her hoof under the sheet, but Ms. Harshwhinny’s nose was nowhere to be found. “Coco… Ahh.. no… I ahhh… I gotta… gotta…”

	Deciding to listen to the slightly more rational version of her boss from back in the personal office, Coco took off towards the elevators, moving as fast as she could. Right before she reached the elevators, she came to an abrupt stop. Just as she had hoped, this seemed to startle the sneeze away from Mrs. Harshwhinny.

	The peace didn’t last long, however. Shortly after Coco pressed the button to call the elevator, her boss’s sneeze returned. “Ahh.. Aaah…”

	Coco stuck her head through the cloth, and reached for Ms. Harshwhinny’s tickling nose. Her boss twisted away from her. Coco spoke in a whisper. “Ms. Harshwhinny, the elevator is almost here. Don’t sneeze.”

	“AAH!” Came the reply, but Coco’s hoof finally found its target. Ms. Harshwhinny had stopped resisting Coco, but it seemed as if she had stopped resisting the sneeze as well. Coco’s hoof did not appear to be doing much good. “AAHAAH… AHH!”

	The elevator was on the ninth floor. Now the tenth. “HAHAAAH!”

	Eleventh floor. “AAHAAHAHH!”

	Finally, the elevator reached their floor, and Coco came out from under the sheet. She pushed her boss, and the tray of cookies, into the elevator, and mashed the close door button, hoping that it would close in time.

	Just as the doors shut, the sheets billowed out as Ms. Harshwhinny launched into a cataclysmic sneeze underneath them. “KAARRRRAAAAHHHHHCHHHOOOO!”

	The elevator stopped at the ninth floor to let passengers on, and Ms. Harshwhinny was still sneezing her head off inside the cart. Coco pantomimed her own expressions, making it look like she was the one sneezing. She made sure to exaggerate the spray that was getting everywhere.

	“I’ll wait for the next one.” A pony with a briefcase said.

	“AHHHCHHH!-ooo…” Said Ms.Harshwhinny/Coco.

	“AAH… AHH! AAAH! HIIIAAAHHCHH!-ooo… HERRAAAHHSHH-hooo…”

	“Ms. Harshwhinny, you have to stop sneezing. We’re almost at the lobby.” Coco said, and grimaced as she reached under the table to find her boss’s mucus covered nose.

	“Ahh… AHH…”

	The elevator doors dinged open, and Coco sprinted across the lobby, out of the building. She could hear somepony yelling behind her. “Stop! That cart belongs to the building!”

	Coco continued to run, knowing that Ms. Harshwhinny pulled too much weight for her to get in any real trouble. When it seemed like nopony was after them, Coco slowed to a walk. Ms. Harshwhinny sneezed all the way back to her hotel.