PonyStory1

Books. Books. So many books, all out of order. Why did people have to do this? Assuming they didn’t take piles of them at a time, it was far easier to replace books when browsing than leave them on the tables. I sighed to myself as I scanned the numbers, placing a heavy biology book on the shelf before pushing the cart onward. Library aide may not pay much, but it was enough for rent, food, and internet. As long as I had those, I would survive, and a little extra went towards saving for college. Plus, it was fairly nice, as work went. Quiet, and I could read books on my break and not have to take them far to return them.

“Hey! Hey Library Chick!”

I pushed my glasses up my nose; I had lowered them to better see what I was doing. Oh god. Bronies. No. Correction. Rabid Bronies. One had a Fluttershy shirt, the other a wonderbolts hoodie. Neither was unattractive, but the Wonderbolt needed to wash his hoodie and Fluttershy seemed to have skipped a shower. I smiled at them.

“Yes, how may I help you?” I asked politely, pushing the cart to the side. My books. You would not lay a greasy finger on them until they had been properly shelved. Sure, they had already been put into the system, but order meant a lot to me. If I didn’t take time to put things in order, then I would default to throwing things everywhere. That would not work.

“Yes, we’re looking for books on how to draw.” Wonderbolt replied.

“Ponies, mostly.” Fluttershy added with a  creepy little laugh. “Do you like ponies?”

Yes, quite a bit. “Not much.” I turned, headed down the aisle. “Please, come this way. We have several art books; if you’re planning to draw ponies, you’ll want to start with basic shapes…” I pulled a book from the shelf, handing it to Wonderbolt, and added another book “As well as techniques. I’d also recommend studying art you’re fond of, really try to understand how it all fits together. A lot of detail goes into a drawing.”

Aaaand I was losing them. I knew it would happen. See, that’s the thing with these people; they want everything right now. Why work for it? Mommy and Daddy paid the bills, after all. I watched as they shuffled through the art section, putting up a façade of interest. They would check out two, maybe three books on drawing, and return them two weeks from now, unused.

Deciding they would be best left alone, for now, I went back to my shelving. As predicted, they left soon after; my shift was coming to a close, too. I’d quickly learned that a prolonged farewell led to more work being piled on my plate, so I stopped by the main office for a quick farewell before throwing on my coat and headed out. Damn, it was cold. I shivered as I started my walk home. Those guys had really gotten to me.

I should clarify, it’s not that I’m some kind of hipster or anything. I don’t think I could afford the attitude to be a hipster. Nor was I some kind of brony purist. What really got me was the entitlement, I guess. Them thinking that liking ponies set them apart from everyone else in the world.

I reached my apartment as I had that happy thought, unlocking the door and throwing my coat down on the floor. I tapped the power button on my computer, then headed to the kitchen to make something to eat. I poked around in the leftovers from various meals, and decided to fry them up with some rice. The whole thing took about twenty minutes to cook, and by the time it was done, my computer was all powered up and good to go.

I sat down with a glass of water and looked for something to watch during dinner. Didn’t really feel like a comedy today…why not ponies? I’d actually never gotten to watch Too Many Pinkie Pies, and so I clicked over to the episode, settling down and starting to eat. A strange episode, to be sure, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Actually, I was impressed at how well the story was told, even if I happened to have the opposite problem as Pinkie.

I set my plate aside, checking my email. Four new messages; three junk, but my heart leaped when I saw I had a message from one of my online friends. I had made a few friends interested in My Little Pony, but this was the only one I had given my email to, someone with an OC named Starlit Skies. I didn’t know his real name, but he had reached out to me, and not a lot of people did that, even online.

I opened the message
“Hey, Angel Grace. I got something really, really awesome to show you. Come to this address tonight, and prepare to have your mind blown.” Wait, that didn’t make any sense, Skies told me he lived in another state; why would he send me an address in town? And actually not far from where I lived. It would be incredibly stupid to meet an online friend alone, but I had to know what was going on. I put my coat back on, and took an umbrella for good measure, heading out into the late afternoon. Still very, very cold.

The address from the email was only about a mile away, and it was an old, abandoned warehouse. Gripping the umbrella I held tightly, I stepped forward, my heart pounding so fast that the cold was forgotten completely. I approached the nearest window…when someone grabbed me from behind, covering my mouth and dragging me into the bushes.