Uncharted Books bookstore

“Water, Water everywhere… nor any drop to drink” –Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Inside the small bookstore on the corner across from Sugar Cube Corner, behind the counter sits a young Pegasus with square frame glasses. That pony is me. My name is Cheerwine, and I’m the proud cashier of Uncharted Books. I’ve sat behind this counter for nearly two months now, with only a handful of customers coming in and the boss coming out of the backroom to check on me.

I work at Uncharted Books every day, with the exception of D&D night and during Magic tournaments. I’ve always loved books so it just made sense to send in an application when I saw the ‘help wanted’ sign in the store’s front window.

Looking around the now well stocked store, I remember when I first came to the store. It had been a poorly stocked and disorganized hole in the wall in danger of being closed down, but now it is a successful bookstore visited almost as much as the library in the center of town.

Most Pegasi are expected to get a job at a more athletic or Pegasus centered business, but I’m too much of a nerd to work at one of those places. Even my cutie mark is a quill and ink well. I’m also too clumsy and impatient to learn how to play team sports, except for hacky sack.

I was laying my head on the counter about to fall asleep when I heard the bell above the door jingle. In walked our number one customer, Twilight Sparkle, a purple unicorn who’d probably want nothing to do with a Pegasus with an ugly light brown coat other than to buy the newest and rarest books.

“Hey Twilight!” I said excitedly, lifting my head up to a familiar gaze. “Hey Cheerwine!” She said, putting a rolled up list on the counter and unrolling it with her magic. It rolled onto my side of the counter, and I lifted up my hoof to let it keep rolling until it went through the door into the backroom. Obviously my boss saw it because he yelled in his masculine low voice “Good morning Twilight Sparkle! I assume you’re here to buy up all of my books again?” I sighed, thinking of how much work I was going to have to do - order the books, get the possibly hundreds of books from the train station to the library. How was I going to do that since the wagon has a broken wheel?

“Good morning Book Shelf!” She yelled back to my boss, who let out a loud crack probably from craning his neck to get the kinks out from the night before, which he had spent accounting for the shop. I ran my hoof through my greasy and long, yellowish orange mane.

If it had been anyone else I’d have told them to get the buck out of the store, but Celestia have mercy if I wasn’t a sucker for the mare who stood before me. I finally snapped out of my half-conscious reading and focused on the list, I started reading down it. “Daring Do and the last Holy Pony War is in aisle three, just got it in.” I said, when I instantly recognized it towards the bottom of the list. “I’ll have to special order the rest again.” I said, with my sleepy voice that I casually sported like a trademark.

I absolutely hated the days when Twilight came around; it almost always meant I’d have to work my flank off the next day. “This’ll probably end up being around three hundred bits for all these books.” I said, mentally adding up the prices of the ones I knew from the catalog. Not all that much considering that since Celestia supplied bits through Twilight’s student account. I’ve always been afraid she’d cause inflation every time she puts a bag on the counter with a few hundred bits in it.
She did exactly that. dropping the bag and releasing it from her purple magic aura, she turned and opened the door. “Keep the change, have a good day you two!” she said, before promptly exiting the store. I picked up the velvet sack with my wing and took it to the backroom and set it on the table in front of my boss, who noticeably sighed, knowing he’d have to count it all.

I turned back around and went to the catalog, realizing I had forgotten the list. I turned and it was floating in air; I’d almost forgot my boss was a unicorn. I grabbed it with my hoof and set it next to the catalog, going down the list and checking them on the catalog until I eventually passed out. I awoke to the ringing of the service bell. I walked into the small space between the wall and the counter.

I was tired and ready to go home at this point, so I didn’t even notice the steam powered contraption strapped to my friend Loyal Blade’s back until I had already asked what I could do for him today. “You can wake up, clock out, and come with me to meet Cloud Feather at The Mushroom Café.” He said almost monotonously with just a hint of amusement in his voice. I instantly noticed the voice and lifted my hoof over the counter and he returned the gesture, smacking our hooves together making a ‘clop’ sound.

“What’s up, Blade?” I asked with a tiny bit of energy to show I was still conscious. “Not much brother, just haven’t talked to anyone lately.” He said, while I yawned slowly. I finally noticed his mane was now burgundy instead of the usual dark purple that his coat was. Brown eyes, purple coat and a propeller for a cutie mark.

“So you scheduled a dinner with Cloud Feather and said to yourself ‘let me go get Cheerwine to clock out early?” I asked him quizzically. He pointed his mechanical wing out the window and then I realized it was dark, at least nine in the evening. “Oh, it’s past closing time anyway.” I said apologetically to my unicorn engineer thing friend who refused to show any emotion, despite several years of therapy from Twilight.

He sat silently in front of the counter as I flew about the shop putting up scrolls and books into their appropriate place on the shelves of the store. I hated to fly inside the shop because of my tendency to be a little clumsy and knock over three or seven shelves like dominos. I’ve always wondered about my silent friend, if he simply refused he wasn’t meant to be Earth bound and designed the wings on his back, which I learned connected to intricate valves which let him control them through his spine and nervous system as though he’d always had them on his back, to let him escape from his home on the ground to where his parents dare not go.

I finished cleaning up in record time because I wanted to get to the mushroom café and get some tea with Cloud Feather. I flipped the sign in the door so that it displayed ‘closed’ to the street outside and trotted up beside my long time best friend, ever since he simply refused to let me drift my nap cloud over his tree house because he wouldn’t be able to stay in it if his parents thought it was going to storm.

“You see Tea Leaf around lately Cheerwine?” Loyal casually asked, as we passed the library on the way to the café. “No, he came in to get a book on pH levels and the effect on the growth and distortion of chemicals in plants a few days ago and then dropped off the scene completely.” I asked with concern, I thought Tea Leaf had been with Loyal and Cloud since he lived directly under them and used to steal the morning paper from their doorstep.
Tea Leaf has always been a loner since I met him in flight school. He always preferred his plants, which don’t talk back to him. I thought he was insane when I walked by his apartment one time and heard him singing the lyrics to ‘My Garden’ by the KottonMouth Kings. It turned out he had bought a book from Uncharted Books on my first day that said singing to plants can encourage long plant life and growth.

By the time we arrived at the café, it was dark outside and the street lamps were being lit by a blue pony with a long stick that had a small flame at the end of it. I liked it when the night is almost pitch black. We finally got to the café, and sitting at one of the mushroom tables that gave The Mushroom Café it’s famous oddity factor was my friend and Loyal’s marefriend Cloud Feather. We both trotted slowly up to the table and sat down. Loyal used his magic to lift up the menu but I knew what I was going to get: hard cider and a grass and tomato sandwich.

By the time we left the café, the streets were well lit with candlelight from the lamps on either sides of the street. I had ended up having about four or five glasses of hard cider and was flapping my wings drunkenly just to keep myself from falling over and being picked up for public intoxication.
We walked past Loyal Blade and Cloud Feather’s apartment building and they stopped. I turned and said goodbye to both of them. Hoof shaking commenced and ceased, and I continued my drunken stumble down the street until I arrived at my apartment building two doors down from Uncharted Books.

I walked in and walked up the two flights of familiar stairs without incident. 2A had an earth pony colt banging on the door, I tried to slip past him but he stopped banging and stormed off towards me nearly running me over. I continued my swagger through beer goggles past the latest doorway cut off by yellow tape which read ‘Police line – do not cross’, as I would find out the next morning. Making my way up the third and final flight of stairs a zebra came crashing down in a beaten and bruised lump just as I hugged the wall to support myself. I looked up and saw that another pegasus with gold horseshoes and necklaces had apparently thrown the zebra down the stairs, but who was I to disturb someone trying to make a living? I continued to walk up the stairs, and the pegasus flew after the limping zebra.

I finally reached my apartment, number 3B, otherwise known as the apartment with the ineligible graffiti sprayed next to it with blood splattered across the wall. I pulled the key to the door from my jacket pocket and unlocked the door leaning heavily into the door I flung it open with me following suit falling to the floor with a dull thud and pained groan, “I need to get out of this god damned building.” I muttered into the floor. I pulled my face off of the ground and surveyed the seemingly brand new space. I don’t live in the nicest of neighborhoods, but you have to give me credit, I had erected several bookshelves which were all filled with books. The smell of strawberries and clover hit me like a buck to the face. I reveled in the usual smell of my apartment. I walked through the foyer past the broken hinges on the bathroom door and through the bedroom door. I stopped for a second and looked over the mattress, which was spread out in the corner of the room without any sheets, a blanket, and a PlayColt magazine next to my custom clover pipe.

I lifted the pipe with my wing and proceeded to dig under the mattress to retrieve the small bag of clover which I kept in case of emergencies. I walked to the window which led to the fire escape. Opening it, I stepped onto the top level of the fire escape. I only came onto the fire escape when I needed a smoke and to think. I stuffed the bowl of the pipe, only to realize I had forgotten my lighter, when all of a sudden the clover lit with a spark. I looked around confused. What in celestia's name? I thought to myself. I couldn’t find a reason for the sudden flame until I peered towards the roof and my green-maned unicorn friend Tea Leaf was sitting on the edge snickering like a school filly.

I took a toke from my pipe as my mentally unstable friend erupted into laughter. “I should have known.” I whispered to myself, as he recovered from his laughing fit. He stood up and hopped down onto the rusting platform of the fire escape. “Good day Cheerwine. I see you enjoy my crop, as many a pony does in Ponyville.” He stood quite awkwardly for a unicorn, almost as tall as the top of my wings when they’re fully spread. Sometimes I hated this fact because I was always the tallest one until Tea Leaf became our friend. “I enjoy my clover; I could care less if it’s from you or an earth pony’s crop.” I said, before taking an extra-long toke from my pipe and offering it to my magical friend, who graciously took it in his magic aura and held it up to his lips, taking a small puff, for he is a dignified gentlecolt, who only takes small puffs from his less civilized counterparts’ stash.

After about ten minutes of the puff and pass, the clover was burned out and we said our goodbyes as I climbed into my bedroom window, closing the glass pane and blinds behind me. I climbed under the blanket on my bed and poked my head out the top of the cloth. I began thinking about how long it’s been since I shared a bed with a special somepony. I ended up passing out around thirty minutes after I climbed onto the dirty mattress.

the night life (revised)

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Six months later….

It’s that time of year again, the holidays… I hate the holidays. I trotted down the stairs from my apartment on the third story of the apartment building. I began thinking about how cozy I was in my brand new hoodie. I finally reached the second flight of stairs. I turned around to go to the beginning of the stairs and ran into a hooded pony that was carrying luggage bags which went sliding across the floor.

I got up quickly and proceeded to explain myself while trying to collect the bags from the corners of the room. “I’m sorry… I-I didn’t see you.” I stuttered out quickly. I looked over to see how they were fairing and noticed that I had in fact ran into a mare with a blue mane and purple glasses. I offered to take her bags to her room for her which she quickly declined and took the bags from my hooves and quickly trotted up the stairs which lead to my story, or at least it felt that way, the other apartment had been vacant since I had moved in.

I shrugged the encounter off and continued down on my way out of the building. When I trotted out of the building a young orange pegasus sped past me on a small scooter followed by two fillies in a red wagon. I was going to have one of those days when I was going to collide or come close to colliding with everything. I looked up and down the recently paved road.

The area I lived in has been turned around dramatically, crackdowns on dope dens have left many of the areas undesirables in jail or six feet under. It’s almost as if the charge of the whole operation had been smiled upon by Princess Celestia, the gang graffiti was covered up by white paint, and the drug dealer on the corner was replaced by a pony selling the world’s worst tofu dogs at a incredibly high price. It’s almost as if somepony had flipped the light switch on this neighborhood.

I crossed the street right after a cart carrying a few barrels of cider being pulled by a tall red earth pony crossed the path I was compelled to take. I walked up to the door of Uncharted Books and pushed it open nearly smacking my boss in the head with the brass plate that showed you could push in or out.

I walked to my usual spot behind the counter and sat in my usual spot, and the only thing I can expect today is to fall asleep from boredom, but not yet.

Before my plot even hit the cushion the bell above the door rang signifying someone coming into the store, I looked up and standing at the counter was Ditzy Doo. “Hello Ditzy!” I called from behind the counter. “Hello Cheerwine!” She called back putting her front hooves on the counter. “You got that book I ordered last Tuesday?” She asked knowing I definitely had it. “Yes I do Mrs. Doo, lemme just look for it really quick.” I said looking for the special order underneath the piles of special orders for that one day of the year. I triumphantly pulled the giant book wrapped in brown paper from its trap under the even bigger special order books.

“Ok, that’s one copy of The Algebraic Solutions of Finding the Perfect Muffin Bake Time.” I mumbled under my breath as I tallied up the purchase on the cash register. It came up to thirteen bits which was steep for a book, but this one was based off of Starswirl the Bearded’s personal recipes, and he was surprisingly a huge fan of muffins.

“Oh, thank you Cheerwine, I’ve been looking for this book for so long!” She half-squeaked after flapping her wings in joy. “It’s my pleasure Ditzy, promise to bring me a muffin as soon as you decode that will you?” I asked half-jokingly while writing down the ingredients I was going to need from the farmer’s market later on to make pirogis, I love pirogis.

The rest of the day consisted of telling Rainbow Dash that the latest Daring Do book was in Twilight’s hands and shooing off parasprites from the dumpster behind the shop with a broom. Until a particular customer came into the bookstore.

I was reading the latest book from Maximum Books about protecting your library from the zombie pony horde, and then the bell above the door rang; I bookmarked my page and set the book down with a sigh, it was just getting good too. I looked up and it was the mare that I had run into in the hall of my apartment building, as soon as she entered she used her magic to pull back the hood on her jacket to reveal a light blue mane and a white coat.

“Good afternoon, and welcome to Uncharted Books pick out a book and discover a new land!” I said our catch phrase with about as much glee as a mall cop on black Friday. She nodded and disappeared into the sea of books; I didn’t pay much mind and went back to my book. I don’t know why but something compelled me to ignore this girl and try to act as cool as possible.

I got to read quietly for a few minutes until she returned to the counter. “Um… Excuse me.” She said shyly, I put down my book and leaned on the counter. “Yes? How may I help you?” She couldn’t have been older than me, even possibly a little younger. “Well I need a book on how to cook.” She said almost embarrassed. I leaned forward a little bit. “Like a cookbook?” I asked trying to sound as neutral as possible. “Yeah, one of those!” She said with a spark of excitement. I trotted from behind the counter and down to the third aisle from the door and walked down two sections.

“We have all sorts of cookbooks. Ones about Zebra food, Stalliongrad cuisine, and even some maneami spicy food cookbooks.” I said browsing the food section myself, mouth watering at all the tasty food on the covers. She grabbed a book off the top shelf and brought it to eye level.

It was a Stalliongrad recipe book with pirogis on the cover. “I want this one!” She visually bounced up and down slightly. “I take it you like pirogis?” I said in my trademark sleep tone, it must be getting late. ”Oh! I love pirogis!” She squeaked excitedly. “I’m going to make some tonight if you just want me to teach you. Save you a few bits.” I said with my dying batteries voice. “Oh that’d be great! Don’t we live in the same apartment building?” She asked cocking her head just a little. “We live on the same floor I think.” Cocking my head to mimic hers. In turn she tilted her head to a slightly more off angle, which in turn made me cock my head twice as much, this went on for more than a few minutes until I lost my balance and falling face first into the floor.

She giggled and held out a hoof. “My name’s Vinyl Scratch.” She said offering to help me up. I graciously accepted her hoof and pushed myself off the ground without much help. “My name is Cheerwine.” I replied with my monotony sleep voice. She bowed slightly. “pleasant to meet you sir.” She remarked in a rather interestingly formal tone. I, being the uncouth idiot I am, held out my hoof for a hoof bump and she instantly turned her manner around to match mine, hoof bumping my outstretched leg.
I heard the knock on the door while I was stirring the pirogis with a wooden spoon; using my wing I put the wooden spoon on the counter. I turned and walked into the hallway towards the front door looking over the brand new poster which had Celestia on it and under the portrait it had a simple word ‘hope’. This is where I hid my safe. Inside the safe was a small amount of clover, a three fifty-seven magnum, and a bag containing two hundred thirty-one bits exactly.

Walking passed the picture I arrived at the door. Twisting the knob I pulled the door inward to reveal a very couthly dressed Vinyl Scratch. I looked down at my own self, I was wearing the jacket I had been wearing all day and a black beanie. Nothing like the gorgeous pony before me.

“A little overdressed are we?” I asked almost immediately after noticing her long flowing dress. “Well you said it was a date!” She snapped back. “I meant it was a scheduled get-together.” I said in my defense. “Oh chill out Cheerwine! I was only yanking your leg.” She chimed walking past me into the foyer of the small apartment. “So this is where you live?” She asked amazed at all the clover leaf pictures around my apartment. “Yeah, it’s the place where I sleep, and eat, and go to during the night.” I said making my way back into the kitchen, I brought out my huge bowl and placed it next to the sink area opposite my pipes which were submerged in my own cleaning mixture.

I poured the pirogis from the basket of the deep fryer into the bowl next to the sink sliding the basket next to the deep fryer. I used the wooden spoon to scoop a few pirogis onto the two plates that sat next to the bowl.
I used my wings to carry the two plates to the small table which usually only sat myself, but tonight the second chair and the other end of the table was actually being used. I put the two plates in their respectful places in front of the chairs. I motioned for Vinyl to take a seat and sat in my usual spot. She may have looked sophisticated and high class but how she ate really drove the point home.

“So Vinyl, how long have you been in PonyVille?” I asked casually scooping a pirogis with my fork and slurping it up and swallowing it whole while she gingerly cut the pastry with her knife and ate the small pieces more sophisticated like than I would have. “Not long, just a few days.” She said never taking her eyes off the meal in front of her. Did I meet this pony in the bookstore that was jumping up and down like an insane bouncy ball? I stopped eating and just focused on having a conversation. “So you met anypony new since you got here?” I asked trying to find out a little bit about my new neighbor.

“No, just you.” She said calmly, she finished her last pirogis and stood up. “Thank you for the food, we should really hang out sometime, and tell me it isn’t a formal occasion next time please.” She said walking toward the door. I ran ahead of her and opened the door for her; as soon as she walked through I closed the door behind her. Oh this is going to be an interesting friend I’ve made.

As I was cleaning the neck of my favorite pipe my home phone rang. I set the pipe down and walked over the answering machine. “Hey Cheerwine, its Tea Leaf. I could use someone with a certain set of ‘skills’ you know what I mean. Meet me at my place in twenty minutes.” I sighed and picked up the bag I kept next to my desk. It was going to be a long night.
Twenty minutes later I was yelling for the other three ponies in the room to hold down the pony spread out on the whiskey covered table. They all descended on the pony like a pack of wolves trying to keep their grip on the injured colt. “Take me to a real doctor! I swear I won’t tell the cops a thing!” He kept yelling until Tea Leaf held a chloroform soaked rag over his mouth and after a final kick with the last of his energy the pony went limp as though he had died, Celestia I hoped he hadn’t. I took the tweezers out of my bag and stood over the pony, he had at least one bullet wound which I was going to have to route around in to find the lead pellet.

Half an hour later, a lot of blood, and twenty thousand bits later I was flying back to my small apartment on the Eastern edge of town to start my exceptionally boring life over again the next day.

Memory is a blessing.

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Over the next few days, I felt sicker than a dog. I liked saving pony’s lives, but when the reason you flunked out of medical school is because you don’t like the sight of blood, you never want to open another pony ever again, but when I’m needed I can pull through, even if my patient is a drug smuggler, dealer, or just somepony without the bits to pay a real surgeon.

The blood, though. I hate the sight of anypony else’s blood, but when It comes to my blood slap a bandage on it and go on with the day. I sat up in my bed and rubbed the orange orbs that allowed me to see. Getting out of bed I nearly kicked the bag that Tea Leaf had sent home with me two days ago. He knew it was mostly just going to go in my safe and back to him, but I could really use a new fountain pen. Those things are so expensive but they’re so much better than quills.

Buck it. I thought as I walked past the bag into the kitchen, picking up my new book as I walked into the kitchen to fix myself a sandwich. I’ll end up having to launder it anyway. I started thinking of all the scenarios that could go down when a clerk all of a sudden spends twenty thousand bits on a bunch of books and a fountain pen.

I finished making the very cheap sandwich and grabbed the plate with my free wing and proceeded through the mostly empty living room, looking over the lonely bookshelves. “Hmm, maybe I should buy some furnishings for this empty flank apartment.” I said, as I opened the window, which led to the fire escape, and stepped onto the small metal platform.

Looking to my left, I found my usual sitting spot was occupied by my new neighbor, who liked to blast the loudest and most wonderful music all night long. “Good morning Vinyl Scratch” I greeted lazily, as I sat down next to her.

Setting my sandwich down I opened my book to the first page, where I noticed she hadn’t said good morning back, I craned my head and saw she had ear buds in. I hate those well hidden music producers. I suppressed my annoyance and chomped down on my sandwich. I hadn’t eaten since day before, so I ate the whole sandwich in less than ten minutes.

“Oh, hello Cheerwine.” Vinyl chimed in, after about twenty minutes of sitting there quietly. “Good morning.” I repeated to her. I sighed and went back to my book, which was fairly uninteresting. I turned to my neighbor, who seemed to be emitting good vibes, was staring at me. I scooted uncomfortably away from the pony, trying to make it seem as I was physically trying to adjust.

“I saw you were sick.” She said, looking out across the alley, seemingly into the eyes of the pony on the faded advertisement. “I was playing that music from my room hoping you’d like it. I hope you did.” She said, picking up the book I had just been reading. “I did, Vinyl, but I’m not much of a late night rocker, if you know what I’m saying.” I looked innocently at Vinyl, her blue mane hanging from her head as she read the summary on the back of the book.

“I was thinking I should buy some furniture for the apartment.” I said off-topic, when she didn’t respond for several minutes. An icicle fell from the roof of the building and on my plate, smashing the plate and the icicle into several large pieces. “Aw, buck. I’m sorry, I got to clean this up.” I excused myself from the one-sided conversation and picked up the pieces, turning to go to the window. Vinyl floated a CD in front of my face. I looked over, and she had opened the book and was reading it intensely. I grabbed the disc with my wing and crawled back into my empty apartment. I looked around my room and noticed the floor was covered in clover stems and seeds. I guess I had never really noticed how bad my apartment looked, but then again I guess I never cared really.

I walked along the way to the kitchen and deposited my bounty of broken pieces of ice and clay into the trash can I kept next to the end of the counter. I hated doing dishes, so it was no surprise when I looked at the sink and found it filled to the brim with bowls, plates, and empty mugs. I quickly turned into the living room or dining room, whichever you prefer. I sat at the end of the cheap wooden dining table I had gotten on discount at the woodworkers shop. I used my wing to grab my pipe and fished around in my pocket for several seconds, revealing a small bag of clover.

After a while of smoking from the pipe I stood up and stumbled over to the stereo in the corner and popped in the CD Vinyl had given me. I turned the volume up and pressed play. The bass emitting from the speakers shook the ground under me and I jumped in panic, turning the volume down to a mere loud crash rather than an explosion of epic proportions. I bounded with one leap and the flapping of my wings back to my seat next to the table keeping myself calm and comfortable.

I woke up the next morning dazed and confused. I needed to get to work. That’s the only thing I thought as I rolled out of bed, falling hoof first onto the cheap rug that lined the floor of my living room. I must have passed out on the couch because I looked around and saw my stereo was turned off. Funny I didn’t remember turning it off last night. Once I think about it I only remember going to Vinyl’s apartment towards twelve. I’ll worry about it later.

I threw on my coat and flung open the door. I trotted down the stairs out into the street where ponies were going about their business. A few ponies crowded around a kiosk where a vendor was claiming his wears were the best in all of Equestria. Yeah, and I’m Princess Luna. I trotted quickly across the road and into Uncharted Books.

“Good morning Cheerwine, you’re a little late today, I thought you weren’t coming today.” Book Shelf said, as he floated several books to their respectful places on the shelves of the bookstore. “Sorry boss, it’s been a weird morning.” I trotted around the counter and sat down in the usual spot of comfort for me. I proceeded about my day as if I had just won the lottery, I felt renewed.

The day was pretty routine, except for the purple unicorn that arrived in the doorway as the bell over it rang. “Good morni-“I choked out before Twilight suddenly jumped on top of the counter, her hair in total dismay and her eye twitching. I shrunk away from her, trying to seem insignificant. “Any problems I can help you with, Cheerwine? As a good friend?” She chimed seemingly insane. Then it hit me. I could probably get my memory from her magic, but before I could say anything, she bolted out the door into the street running at full speed. Well that was generally interesting.

With my day over I walked down my street, by the fruit market next to Loyal Blade and Cloud Feather’s apartment building. As soon as I walked up to their building, I noticed Loyal sitting on the steps and Cloud laying down with her head keen, almost as to sense danger. “Good morning you two!” I chimed cheerfully, as I walked by. Cloud Feather waved a hoof, and Loyal Blade waved his brass coated wing in response. I trotted up to them as casually as possible for how awkward it was for me to try to be normal. “I have a question to ask, Loyal.” I said, climbing the steps to the two of them. “Shoot.” He said, almost like he was uninterested. “Is it possible to use a spell to retrieve memories?” I questioned. I really don’t like knowing things. “I have no clue. You might want to ask Twilight Sparkle; she lives at the library.” He responded with his uninterested tone. “I know who Twilight is, but she seems kind of off her rocker, if you know what I mean.” I informed my unicorn friend. “Then I don’t know what to tell you, try retracing your steps.” He gives useless advice sometimes. I thanked him and said goodbye to both of them and trotted off to the market.

After carrying the grocery bags with my hooves as I flew down the street back to my apartment window, I was ready to go to sleep. I threw my jacket onto its hanger in the main hall and sat down on the couch. I cracked the can full of tomato juice and knocked it back. I was insanely malnourished from having only a sandwich to eat since yesterday.

After finishing the fruit juice, I got off the couch and threw the can in the trash. I trotted down the hall and flew into my bed. I was about to fall asleep when the unnecessarily loud doorbell made its ring-ading-ding sound, almost trying to deafen me.

I got up from my nice cold bed with a groan and walked out into the main hall and opened the door. “What do you want?” I yelled, before I even knew who it was. It was Vinyl Scratch, and she was scared beyond belief from how loud I had yelled. “It’s just me dude. Chill out.” She said calmly trying but failing to hide her scared tone from me. “Oh, sorry Vinyl.” I said a bit quieter. “What do you need?” I asked trying to not sound annoyed. “What, you don’t remember?” She asked without hesitation. I looked around her for some indication of what was going on. “I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.” I told her, without finding any clues to give me an idea. “Well you were banging on my door higher than Celestia’s sun.” She said with a giggle. “And when I came to the door, you started going on about how hot you thought I was and how awesome my music was and ended up asking me on a date.” She blushed slightly.

The same could not be said about me; I was redder than a freshly ripened tomato. Thank god my coat helped hide the redness on my cheeks or I would have been easily exposed, it’s true that I found Vinyl Scratch attractive, but what’s up with that? Tea Leaf probably grew some strong stuff. I’d give him a horseshoe print on his flank later, but right now I had to defuse this ticking time bomb. I could hear the tick in my head, I was fucked and I knew it.

“I-um-I w-would but I’ve-“ I stumbled over my words trying to come up with a good excuse. Tick tick. “But um- the-um uh- Ok, let me grab my jacket.” I sighed, defeated. Boom. “That’s ok! I’m not even near ready yet! I just came to remind you.” She said as I had turned to walk away. Why would she? I had seen her that night with the pierogies, and she had been overdressed for the occasion. Oh this is going to be one hell of a relationship.