>“Have a good night Anon, I’ll see you at 11:30 tomorrow morning, yes?”
“Mhm”
>”Good. You’re walking on thin ice right now. Tomorrow we’re starting our hayfry promotion. Ask anyone who looks like a pony owner if they’d like to add it to their combo”
>You grunt as you respond to your boss. It’s 3:30am and you have to be back here in 6 hours
>It’ll be 4:15 when you get home, give or take, and by the time you actually manage to get comfortable and fall asleep it’ll probably be closer to 5:30
>You have to wake up an hour and a half before work too, so that leaves you with 4 and a half hours of sleep, give or take
>You work full time at a McDonald’s. Hilarious right?
>Believe it or not, it manages to get worse, it’s also a 24/7 McDonald’s downtown, which makes your hours even worse
>Feeling the weight of your eyelids, you swipe your time card
>You grab your drawstring bag, fill up your water bottle with soda, grab a sandwich you made for yourself, and head out
>Despite these ridiculous hours you work, you have nowhere near enough money for a car
>And no trains or buses go in the direction of your shitty apartment
>Therefore, it's a good 45 minute walk to and from work every day
>Being somewhat obese leaves you a sweaty mess afterwards, it's especially bad when you go into work like that
>You live in a suburban slum of the sorts, but your place of employment is in center city
>Combine that with it being almost 4 in the morning, and you have the worst the area has to offer out
>You usually can’t go 10 minutes without someone nagging you, claiming they’re homeless or asking for drug money
>It becomes more frequent the further you go into your neighborhood
>It’s not like you’re lying either when you refuse to give them money
>You really don’t have any to spare
>Maybe they know this. It’s a marvel you haven’t been mugged or killed yet
>The uniform probably gives it away
>Honestly, if you ever did get into that situation you’d probably just let them kill you
>It’s a miracle that you haven’t just done it yourself by now
>You stop at the corner of the alley you’re walking down for a moment to put your bottle into your bag
>As you get back up you unwrap the sandwich you made yourself and continue on your way
>Your time at McDonald’s has really ruined fast food for you
>Eating the same 3 things everyday of your life does that to you
>Also, you’ve seen first hand that sanitation is minimal, except on days when inspectors come in
>But, you can’t afford much, and free is free
>10 minutes later, you force the last bit of the burger down your throat
>At this point you still have about 25 more minutes left
>You’ve done this route a million times, so you can fully immerse yourself in thought and navigate yourself automatically
>The thoughts are rarely positive, but you can’t help it. Something’s wrong with you
>”How are you going to pay this month’s rent? You called out 4 times this month ya know.”
“I’ll worry about it when it comes”
>You often respond to yourself outloud because you’re a bit of a sperg
>At least it's almost 4 in the morning and anybody who may hear you probably has their screws loose as well
>”You can’t go another day out for the next year after that. They’re pissed already, anymore and you’ll be fired”
“I’ll be sure to take my vitamins every morning”
>“They will schedule you every holiday for that Anon. You won’t get to see the only person who still acknowledges your existence this year”
“There’s always next year…”
>”You know your Mom only invites you over for Christmas because she pities you, right? If she really loved you she’d want to see you more than once a year.”
“THAT’S ENOUGH!”
>Your voice echoes down the narrow street
>Shitshitshitshitshit
>At this point, you are in your crowded, congested slum
>If you talk to yourself, nobody can hear you
>If you scream at the top of your goddamn lungs it probably wakes the whole neighborhood
>Worst case scenario you get beat to a puddle
>Best case they kill you
>You stand still like a retard for 2 minutes, waiting for your fate
>The silence of the night continues
>You wipe a pool of sweat off your forehead with your shirt and start again
>”sniff sniff”
>What was that?
>You hear breathing
>You pull out your dollar store mini flashlight from your pocket
>Aiming it behind you, you can’t see anything that could be the source of the whimpering
>Fully turned around now, you behind to backtrack
>It’s getting louder
>You turn down an alleyway and shine the light across left to right
>There you see it
>Sitting next to a dumpster is a small pony
>She’s shaking
>From what you can tell, she has a blue coat and her mane and tail are white and red
>Her coat is grimy and her ass mark almost looks like a circle, but it’s kind of hidden
>Keeping the light shined on her, you approach the mare
>Her eyes shrink as she buries her face in her front hooves
>”M-mister… please turn it off!!! I beg of you!”
>You follow the pony’s request and shut the light off
>“Thank you mister! You are too kind. I was sleeping when I heard someone scream, and I got really really scared.”
>Obviously referring to your outbreak, you can’t help but feel awful when you hear the cute little thing say that
>You want to look at her again but it’s now near pitch black
“Do you mind if I turn the flashlight back on? I’ll put it on the lowest setting and point it away.”
>”I won’t defy what you want mister. I-I-If i knew the light was so important to you I wouldn’t of told you to turn it off!”
>She makes herself smaller
>”Please don’t beat me. I didn’t knoooow!”
>She’s wailing and sobbing now
>You flick the light back on and point it in a way where it isn’t intruding, but enough so you can see the pony, and she can see you
>You can now see her clearly and notice something wrapped around her hind leg
>”I’ll be a good mare! I promise!”
>Jesus, she’s more fucked up than you
>Time to play the normal one for once
“I just want you to be comfortable. I’m not going to lay a finger on you”
>She expands from her makeshift ball shape
>”You-you mean it?”
“I promise”
>The pony looks at you in confusion as if she doesn’t understand
>Maybe some smalltalk will help, maybe get her mind of things
“Say, what's a pony doing out here all alone? I know for a fact nobody in these parts can afford one, and you aren’t on a leash or chain.”
>”My master…. sniff... left me to die”
>Her voice cracks a bit on the last part
>You tard! If you wanted her to get her mind off things, you shouldn’t of asked her about her situation
>Too late now
“You look like a good mare, why would they do that?”
>”I damaged m-my leg on machinery. Master told me the vet said it’s permanently broken, and that I deserved it for being such a stupid pony”
>Your stomach sinks as the little pony tells her story
>”I had less use after that. I became too d-damaged for the job so they replaced me for somepony else.”
>”At first I thought master got her to be my friend, but she quickly outpaced me and got more and more responsibilities while I got even less and less. I tried my hardest I swear! But master would beat me more often every night saying that I was a waste of money.”
>She looks over at her damaged leg
>”I could never dream of being as good as her. She was a smart, fast learner, extremely dexterous, and fast. She was a unicorn too, so she could use magic, making her more efficient than a dumb earth pony like me could ever dream to be.”
>”One day master woke me in my stable and said I was worthless now, and that I’m lucky he isn’t allowed to put me out of my misery. So master blindfolded me, put me on a leash, and took me away.”
>This is killing you on the inside, who would do such a thing?
>”When we got here, master took my collar off and told me to scram. It hurt so much to walk! When I didn’t move he threw my collar to the ground and stomped on it and told me to never look at him again.”
>The pony turns around to lick her leg
>”Yipe!”
>She lets out a cry, poor thing will probably never walk normally again
>You're filled with anger and sadness. It feels as if an arrow struck you right in the heart”
“So.. uh, what’s your name?”
>The pony looks at you with a puzzled look
>Good fucking job retard, you could of offered your condolences or said something sensible
>”I... don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
>Is she brain damaged too or something?
>”Master always called me workhorse, or donkey.”
“But what is your birth name? You’re not young enough to have been born into slavery, you came from Equestria, yes?”
>”E...Equestria?”
>Now you’re puzzled. That’s what their homeland is called as far as you remember, but you aren’t the most educated person
“Where do you come from then?”
>The pony gives it a moment
>”I don’t know.”
>You are frustrated on the inside now, but you try not to show it
>Staring at her, you get a better look at her ass mark
>It’s not just a circle… it's… the Pepsi logo?
“Was it Pepsi that owned you?”
>”Did I fail to mention that? I’m so sorry! Yes, I was enslaved as a worker at PepsiCo, but that’s as far back as I can remember”
“So you just so happen to share a mark that is exactly their logo?”
>She looks back at it
>”Master had it put on me, I think. I don’t really remember what happened that day. Something about if I look like Pepsi, it will be good recognition for the company when I’m out in public delivering Pepsi to the market”
“You delivered soda to supermarkets?”
>”I’d be put into the truck with Pepsi and unload them at every location we stopped at. It was my favorite job! It was the only time I ever saw anything other than the factory.”
>She takes a deep breath and looks as if she’s trying to hold back more tears
>”That is, it was my favorite job until I got hurt.”
>She’s still shaking, but you aren’t sure if it’s from what she’s thinking, or the cold Autumn night
>This pony was bought by Pepsico as a slave and probably brainwashed into forgetting everything about her prior self.
>She was rebranded into a pepsi mare just to be a walking, living advertisment.
>Who knows how much of her previous self was even left? Her mark was definitely different, and her mane and tail were probably changed too, that color scheme is too convenient to be natural.
>The only thing that could possibly be original is her coat, but even then you aren’t sure
>Thinking about this is causing your justice boner to raise
>You look at her, she’s tending her leg again, this time being more careful
>She doesn’t deserve this
>She’s a living, sapient creature, sitting outside near a dumpster because a multi-billion dollar company couldn’t bother to find her another home
“You’re coming to live with me”
>The pony turns back up, staring at you, shocked
>You’re shocked too, did you say that outloud?
>Supertard strikes again
>One thing you do know is, when you blurt something out loud it means you truly mean it deep down
>But you can barely make by as is, how will you feed another mouth?
>You’ll find a way, you have to, you need to
>Not just for her sake, but your’s too
>The pony is the first to speak up
>“You don’t want that mister. I’d be a burden. I’m worthless, master told me so.”
>Her saying that makes you more committed to the cause
“You need TLC. You look as if you haven’t had any in awhile.”
>”M-master loved me.”
>You speak in a stern voice
“If he loved you he wouldn’t of left you out here to die. Your master was a corporate shitbag. You were just an investment to him, and as soon as that investment began to show diminishing returns, he replaced you and left you out in the cold.”
>You surprised yourself with that speech, you didn’t know you had it in you to say something like that
>”B-but I have nothing to offer you. I only know how to cap bottles, label cans, and move heavy objects with my mouth… all i can offer you is my body.”
>She moves her tail around after that sentence
>https://youtu.be/oVIpkXSN_o0
>What? JUSTICE BONER is evolving!
>Congratulations! Your JUSTICE BONER evolved into a SEXUAL BONER!
>...Snap out of it brain!
“You can offer me companionship.”
>You quickly realize the current context could make her think something very different
“You can offer me friendship. You can be my friend. And I can be yours. It looks like we both need it.”
>“But my leg is broken. Every step hurts. Surely you’d want me to be your maid sometimes, and even if you didn’t I’d feel awful not giving you anything in return for your kindness.”
“Again, you’re giving me friendship. Your company is all I need. Someone I can look forward to seeing everyday after work, to talk to and share laughs with. Someone to motivate me to keep going and to try my hardest.”
>The mare is silent
>She’s blinking a lot it seems, trying to hold back tears again
>But this time, they are happy tears
>For the first time tonight, a smile runs across her face
>”Thank you mist… I mean master! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!”
“Let's get going, shall we?”
>You reach your arms out
>The pony jumps up like Grandpa Joe did when Charlie got the golden ticket
>As she hops up into your arms, she lets out another yipe
>She seems a little deflated by it, but you won’t let it ruin the mood
>Despite being very dirty, her coat is softer than you could ever imagine
>With a pony in your arms, you stand up and turn around
>What’s that light coming out of the sky?
>You check your watch
>7:30?!?
>Time flies when you’re with a cute poner
>You’ll call out of work and risk getting fired. It may be a blessing if you do. This is finally an opportunity to turn around your life
>Looking down at your new pony, you notice she’s quite thin
>You feel bad now for being a fatass and eating your entire burger
>You still have your bottle though
“Want a drink?”
>”I haven’t had a drink in forever! W-What kind is it master?”
“Coke”