//------------------------------//
// JoySpread 
// Story: BAD INFLUENCES 
// by Ali Gonzheimer 
//------------------------------//

JOYSPREAD

It’s already morning.

I’m not sure what happened last night, but my head was spinning, and the daylight was killing me. But finally, I opened my eyes, my vision cleared, I had the most unpleasant surprise.

I found myself on the top of a huge statue of Celestia, which was holding a balance, and it had her eyes blindfolded.

“What is this?” I asked myself.

Then I looked around, and I saw lots of other ponies lying around on the floor and all over the place; which appeared to be a public building. And each and every pony here were dressing suits, and some of them were even using their briefcases as pillows. It seemed like some really wild party took place in here. There was DJ equipment, light, a stage, and huge amplifiers all over the place… which now was a complete mess. But then, in the middle of the chaos I saw Plumb Bob, sleeping inside a bowl of punch, and hugging a judge’s mallet like it was a teddy bear. Now, I had no idea what was happening, but I managed to climb down the statue, and approach towards Plumb Bob, passing right next to the ponies who were sleeping on the floor.

“Hey… Plumb Bob. Wake up!” I whispered, while I shook him by the shoulders, when he suddenly woke up.

“I’m not guilty your honor!” He shouted then.

But after his sudden outburst, he just rubbed his eyes, and finally came back to his senses.

“What’s up Joy?” He greet me in a very calmed and casual way.

“Listen to me. We need to get out of here. I don’t know what happened, but I feel like we got into much more troubles.” I told him, showing myself pretty hysterical about it. Then Plumb Bob took a look around him, making some curious expressions on his face, and then he sighed, and closed his eyes.

(sigh) “Alright… Come on, help me out of this.” So then I pulled his hooves, trying to get him out of the bowl of punch, but when he did, we both fell to the ground, next to a pony who was sleeping placidly on his briefcase.

“We need to be quiet.” I whispered, and then we began our silent escape towards the door, when out of nowhere, we heard the voice of a pony talking to us:

“See you later guys; I can’t wait ‘till we do this again.”

We stopped as soon we heard this, then we turned around, with a fake a smile, and nodding to this… pony in a suit, who seemed to be a lawyer. And after this, we continued with our way to the exit.

“Hey! If you ever need a lawyer, just call me!” He yelled at us, before we left.

“Of course we will! I have your card right here!” Plumb Bob told the guy, without turning to see him. And finally, we were out on the street again.

“What was all that about?” I asked Plumb Bob, who after a breve pause, and with a reflective expression on his face, he answered me:

“I have no idea.”

And then he checked inside his pocket, and took a tiny presentation card from it.

“Huh… I really did have his card.” He said then, showing a little surprised.

And shortly after that, we walked away from there. But nevertheless, after a couple of blocks, I still couldn’t put all the pieces together… I can’t remember how we ended up like that. So I tried to explain myself everything that happened:

“The only thing I remember is that I was singing karaoke with that guy Discord… or maybe it was a lamp? What do you remember?” I asked Plumb Bob.

“I remember that, we were chasing a giant pink pillow down an alley. Then I remember you were talking Italian or something to a security pony, and he let us in some… kind of place… And that’s it.” He explained.

I can’t believe what I’ve become. This isn’t the kind of stuff I do. I don’t go out to parties to lose my memory on the next day. This isn’t…

“…But who cares? We had a lot of fun… for what I can remember; besides, no one got hurt, and no one got arrested. That’s a winning night to me.” Plumb Bob said in that moment, which made me reconsider about it.

“I guess so…” Maybe he’s right. Maybe one wild party once in a while isn’t all wrong.

In that moment, he interrupted my thoughts.

“So. Aren’t you gonna show me the place?” Plumb Bob said all of sudden.

“Excuse me?” I asked, a little confused.

“You are from Manehattan, aren’t you?” He said.

“How do you know that?”

“You’re a sleep talker, Joy. I heard you saying it when we were on the woods.”

“A-And… What else did you hear?” I asked him then, getting kind of worried.

“That’s not important. What I really want to know is in what kind of neighborhood you grew up.”

“Fine. If you wanna see it, then (sigh) …let’s go see it.” I told him with resignation. It was better to get this over with, so I simply decided to take him to my old neighborhood.

So then we kept walking across the city for a while. And we got to a point where skyscrapers were replaced department buildings; most of them on a pretty bad shape, until we turned around one corner, and finally, we were there.

“Here it is. But there’s nothing special about it.” I said to Plumb Bob. But then he suddenly stopped walking, when he first saw that neighborhood… where the view, suddenly turned a little more grayish.

There were a couple of carriages parked without their wheels; there were also some cracked windows on the buildings, some graffiti on the walls; and finally, there was a dead tree on the sidewalk to crown all that sadness.

Then I took a second look to my old neighborhood, and just by staring at the place, I couldn’t help but let go a sigh.

“Is it that bad?” Bob asked me, by seeing my reaction in that moment. Nevertheless, then I couldn’t help but outline a smile.

“It’s just like I remember.” This surprised Plumb Bob a lot.

“Are you for real?” He asked me.

“No, really! You see these buildings up here? Here’s where me and my brother used to play catch with his friends. Of course, I couldn’t fly like them, but I played from the window… Actually, this one time I fell off, and my brother caught me just before I hit the ground. I ended up with a slight skull fracture and some bruises, and he ended up with one broken rib… he he je! yeah… good times.”

But after remembering those old times, I was smiling and staring at the ground with nostalgia, but Plumb Bob on the other hoof, was staring at me, very confused.

“Oh… my brother was a gryphon, by the way… Well, he wasn’t my blood brother… but we grew up together. You know how it is.” I explained him in that moment.

“Yeah, of course.” He said, but he still seemed confused. Meanwhile, I don’t know why, but I suddenly, started heading to the entrance of the building. And Plumb Bob stared at me while I was doing it.

“Where are you going?” He asked me.

“I… I just… (sigh) I just want to check my old apartment, to see if… I just, want so check it, alright?” And after my odd words, Plumb Bob seemed much more doubtful. But nevertheless he followed me into the building.

He walked with me all the way to the fifth floor, and once we were there, I knocked at my old door… and it felt strange. I almost felt like… like my brother was suddenly going to open that door, and then we were both going to start laughing at all of this. But my thoughts disappeared abruptly, when one stranger mare opened that door.

“Can I help you?” She asked, but I remained in silence… for a long moment. Meanwhile, Plumb Bob and the lady seemed confused, to see me just standing there, without saying anything. I think my emotions needed a minute, before they allowed me to talk.

“Hello?” The lady asked one more time. And that’s when Plumb Bob intervened:

“I’m really sorry, my friend here…”

“Hi. My name is JoySpread…” And I interrupted him: “…I, used to live here a few years ago, and I was wondering, if you have ever seen a shirt, framed between two pieces of glass.”

“Mmm… I’m not sure about any shirt, but I did find a lot of stuff when I first moved in, so I put them on a storage. I can give you the address if you want.” She told me.

“Thank you. That would really help me.” I said.

“Ok. I think I have the key somewhere, let me check.” She went back into the apartment to look for it, and once I had it, I headed straight to the direction of the storage unit that she gave me, where all my stuff were supposed to be. But while I was heading to the place, there was something else that was intriguing me right now; the fact that Plumb Bob was with me at this point. And it’s because at first, I was the one behind him… because I simply didn’t know what else to do. But now, he was the one following me.

But we were finally there.

There was a line of mini storage units in front of us, and I approached to the one that had the same number that was on the key the lady of my apartment gave me. So then I started trying to open the padlock with the key in my mouth.

“You can walk around the city if you want; I’m going to be here for a while.” I said to Plumb Bob, still with the key in my mouth.

“Yeah, right. Like if you could survive on your own.” He responded, but when I was about to come back at him, the lock opened. And then I stood up, to slowly open the metal curtain, revealing in front of me, all my precious memories. There were pile after pile of boxes and furniture at the bottom, all covered on a thick layer of dust, which was the last thing I cared about in those moments; it simply made me so happy, to see all of that again. So I walked in, while Plumb Bob just stayed outside. Then I walked  to the inside of the storage, while Plumb Bob stayed outside. All my furniture, all my pictures, all my clothes… everything was here! But where’s that shirt? I suddenly started looking like crazy, ignoring everything else in that instant. I took a dive into my pile of junk, until I finally found it. The glass and the frame were covered in dust, but it was still the same. It was my brother’s shirt… his favorite one. And after appreciating it for a moment, I put it gently in the ground; and then I carefully slipped the glass out of the wooden frame; and finally, and with even more precaution, I separated the two pieces of glass… Now I couldn’t believe I was holding it once again.

Meanwhile, Plumb Bob was staring at me from the outside like I’m a crazy weirdo; staring at one shirt like it was something. But who cares, this IS something for me! And all of these stuff…! They represent everything good that has ever happened to me! And I think it’s time to let him know. So I walked out of the storage, with my brother’s shirt on my back, and I approached straight towards Plumb Bob.

“Are you done here?” Plumb Bob asked me. But I approached to him, in a very aggressive way.

“I’m done with you.” I shouted then.

“Excuse me?” He seemed confused, but also angry.

“I just realized that I don’t need anything from you. I’m finally home now!” I said as I pointed at the storage unit.

“And now, if you’ll excuse me. I have a lot of clean up to do!” I shouted, without even seeing him to the eyes when I said it, because then I turned around, and I started walking straight to the storage unit. I walked in, and then I closed the curtain with so much strength that I couldn’t even hear if he spoke a word… Now, I was finally alone with all my stuff. Everything in here was once used by me and by my brother. Then I started walking among these boxes, with the shirt still on my back. I sat down on the floor, and opened one of the boxes; and what I found inside started bringing me vivid memories… This is the baseball we were playing with the day I fell off the building; and this is a letter my brother sent me when he went visit to his grandma. The envelope was already opened, so I took out the letter. But the moment I saw it, I remembered… it, was from that time his grandmother died. That was a very difficult time for my brother. He really loved his grandma; but in the middle of his struggle, he found the courage he needed on me… the last pony you could count on to inspire courage on someone.

The letter reads as follows:

“Hey lil’ brother.    I don’t know how long it’s been. I don’t know if it’s been too long, or too little, since that time we first met… I really don’t know. I only remember it was one spring. And I knew since then, that you were some good quality friend when you came to play with me at the sandbox, even when none of the other ponies wanted to play with a gryphon such as me. I’m writing this to tell you that I really appreciate you, lil’ brother; and now that my grandma is gone, you are my only family; and I’m glad about that, and you know why? ‘Cos with you, I have all the family that I’ve ever needed… and that I always will.	I’m really glad to have you around Joy.    P.S. See you at home real soon.”

After reading the letter, I remained static for a long time.

“Dammit…”

I whispered to myself. “Why did I have to open that letter?” Now I look around me, to all these boxes, and I feel like a fool… I… am a fool.

In those moments Plumb Bob was still waiting outside the storage when I opened the metal curtain. And then I approached walking towards him, with my head down, and my tail between my legs. I stood in front of him, while he simply stared at me like asking if I was ready to go, so I just nodded my head in silence. And then we both started walking away from there, leaving the storage unit behind, with the curtain open. But then, something made me stop all of sudden. And when Plumb Bob noticed this, he stopped as well, and turned around.

In that moment I started whispering:

“All of these years, I was stacking up all these stuff…” So Plumb Bob kept staring at me, seeming really intrigued.

“I’m just taking a lot of things and also backing it all up. But in my head there’s a voice in the back and it hollers, after my life lacks of colors; Why do you take so much bothers!”

And at the moment I yelled this, I rushed against the storage unit; and I jumped inside, smashing everything on my way. Meanwhile, Plumb Bob remained outside, only observing me, without saying anything. In those moments, my thoughts and my heart were raging, creating a chaos inside me, even bigger to what I could create with my own hooves. While in my mind, I kept screaming:

This is the ringing in my ears! These are the polyps on the back of my tonsils eating my vocal cords! These are my problems! This is my time being almost up but I hadn’t acknowledged; I shoulda got me water but this pill was just too jagged to swallow!

Then I started breaking my old vinyl discs, and my photo albums, trying not to look at them; only destroy them.

This is all symbolic of me not knowing what I had ‘til was gone! There are no more friends calling my name! And it’s ok! ‘cos it happened the same to all of them! This is the hindsight to say “I told you so!” These foreshadows of all the things that are next to follow! Now this guilt trip is over, and my baggage is hollow!”

And then, I finally walked out the storage unit, towards Plumb Bob; dragging my brother’s old shirt on the ground. And in that moment, I held it against my chest, and I turned around, with my eyes fixed on that storage.

“…And now, that I gathered up all my possessions… if there’s anything left to say, say it. It’s ok… but if not, then let’s finally rest this case.” I said to Plumb Bob, but he didn’t say anything in that moment.

It was over six o’clock. It was getting late. That’s when I put on my brother’s last possession left… and mine. And then, we both remained in silence, standing in front of that line of storage units, staring at the one that was opened… and completely destroyed. When suddenly, Plumb Bob spoke:

“I’m proud of you.”

And those words, completely filled with honesty… made me shudder on the inside. Then, I don’t know why, I simply fell on my knees… and I just started crying… like I hadn’t done in years. Then Plumb Bob put his hoof on my shoulder, while I was falling apart, and moaning it all out. And it was only us there. Two ponies… on the middle of that parking lot… in front of those storage units.