“LADY! WHERE ARE MY SHOES?” A stallion yelled.
“No, I said gold not silver.” A mare snapped.
“Excuse me over here!” A pony called.
Shoeshine could barely hear their voices. She scrambled around, tossing boxes of horseshoes at customers. The endless customers surrounded her. Most were angry, and demanding, a few were polite and merely called out to her. They were all impatient.
It would be a few hours until she closed. A few hours of chaos.
………
Shoeshine threw herself onto the bed. She laid her head back onto her cool pillow and sighed.
Today had been another long day.
She placed a cold damp washcloth onto her forehead to ease her huge head ache. It was the usual busy day. Running back and forth through a mob of angry ponies from Canterlot demanding horseshoes. Shoeshine was so far behind on her work. Ordering the materials, dealing with the late shipping, and then taking them to the blacksmith. She would help Smithy in his shop, pounding the metals into shiny horseshoes. Then it was then her job to organize them into boxes, fill out orders, and either ship them off or have them become mixed up in her store. She merely had a few hours of sleep, then it was back to her job.
She was a pretty, light blue mare with mauve eyes and curly hair. She had once been happy, spending time with her friends, and stallions would even flirt with her. Now she had no time for anypony.
Shoeshine sighed again and gestured her front hooves in the air.
“Why can’t I be free like the others?” She exclaimed in anger.
She had grown farther and farther apart from her friends and family. They no longer asked if they wanted to meet her somewhere. Shoe was always working, she devoting her life to her store.
Shoeshine groaned and rolled onto her side so that she was facing the window. She closed her eyes for a moment, to fall asleep, when she heard a loud barking. She opened her eyes to see a young unicorn filly playing with a dog. The filly used his magic to toss the tennis ball towards the puppy, a german shepherd, and he caught it happily. He growled and bit it.
“Good job Max. You’ll do great working with Daddy. We’ll both grow up nice and strong and can work on catching bad guys like Daddy.” The filly said.
Shoeshine recognized him. He was the son of Hemlock Bones, a stallion who solved crime, known mostly for murderers.
Shoeshine’s eyes went back to the german shepherd. The dog seemed so careless and free, spending time playing with his family. He had no job, no worries, just toys to chew on and bowls full of food and water.
Shoe chuckled to herself.
“Why can’t I be like that?” She mumbled.
She rolled over and and fell asleep, but not before hearing a strange voice in her head.
“You can.”