The next morning, shouting could be heard from somewhere. Shoe opened her eyes heavily and saw angry customers. She jumped in shock, and realized she had fallen asleep on her stool again that was behind the counter. She turned to an angry mare as the other customers shouted at her.
"Oh yes, your copper horseshoes. Sorry ma'am." She said apologetically and rushed into the back of the store. She looked at boxes before her and began searching for the mare's order. Sleep begn creeping in as she searched, but her eyes opened when she found them. She ran back to the mare and shoved the shoes in her hooves and grabbed the money.
Her vision was blurry, and blinked slower than usual. The lights were shining in her eyes, and the colors seemed to drain. Everything seemed unreal, like a dream, but also a nightmare.
There was a sound of heart monitor, two of them, going at different, yet similar paces.
Shoeshine turned to a stallion.
"And what are you here for sir?" She asked.
"About time." He replied angrily. "I need my bark! Bark! Bark!" He finished, barking like a dog.
Shoe blinked. "Excuse me?"
"I said bark! Bark! Bark!" The stallion repeated.
"I'm afraid I don't understand." Shoeshine told him.
The stallion growled at her. Suddenly the rest of the customers started barking and yipping angrily at her. They slowly began walking towards her. Their teeth turned into sharp fangs, saliva foaming at the mouth. The scratched at her with claws instead of hooves, and growled at her with flattened ears. As they climbed over the counter, ready to pounce, Shoeshine saw a black figure with glowing red eyes and green and blue hair. It was a normal pegasus, instead of the dog-like beasts in front of her.
"Can you help me?" The black pegasus cried. "Please help me!"
Shoeshine's eyes widened it terror as her eyes darted between the pegasus and the beasts, who were about to pounce. Finally, they locked onto the pegasus's red eyes.
"Help me!" A voice called. Shoe found it was not the strange pegasus's, but her own. She was calling out.
Suddenly the pegasus's eyes red eyes flashed to bright green.
"I'll help you if you help me." The same scratchy voice came from the black pony's mouth as it smiled. It turned it's head to look at her beautiful windows. Shoeshine followed it's gaze. Suddenly a blue rock flew in, shattering the bright window. As glass flew everywhere, Shoe followed the bright blue rock as it flew by her. It seemed to fly in slow motion, time seemed to slow down as well, and was so smooth and shiny that Shoe could see her reflection perfectly.
Her mane was a mess, and her cutie mark had changed from two horseshoes to a screw. Her eyes were small with terror, but slowly widened at the reflection of herself.
As time suddenly continued to its normal pace, the rock sped up so quickly it smashed into the wall. It did not break, but instead jammed inself into the wall. Everything else seemed to speed up. The glass flying, the beasts growling, the black pony with the green eyes smiling at her. Everything seemed to move so quickly except for Shoeshine, who stared into black pony's shiny green eyes.
Shoeshine muttered the only sane word she would ever say again.
"Screw Loose."