>You looked outside the boutique window. The sun was beginning to set.
>Tonight is the night of the Grand Galloping Gala.
>Your shift would end early, so the night would be yours to do with what you pleased.
>It had been almost a week since you had arrived here in Equestria, but you had fallen into the daily drag of all of the other Residents of P0nyville quickly enough.
>The night after Twilight had fully explained your situation to you, you had politely excused your self as early as possible.
>You remembered walking out of the library just as the sun was coming up, wondering what in Tartarus you were going to do with yourself.
>You had made a mental checklist of what you absolutely needed.
>Food. Shelter. Water.
>You could have gone off into the Everfree, but you had remembered Twilight's descriptions of some of the creatures that roamed that forest.
>You added to the top of your list, Survival.
>The only other option had been asking Rarity for help.
>You had found yourself knocking on her door within a few minutes.
>A very small, white unicorn with multi-colored hair answered the door.
"Uh... Hello. I'm Anonymous. Could you tell Rarity I'm here."
>"Oh hi Anonymous! I'm Sweetibelle, Rarity's sister. She said that she and Fluttershy had met a nice monkey out near the lake. You must be him. It's nice to meet you!"
 
>She offered her little hoof, so you stooped down and shook it.
>She must be young. Polite though.
"Good to meet you Sweetibelle. You are by far the cutest little p0ny I've seen since I got here. Could you get Rarity please though?"
>She squeed, and turned around to run up the stairs behind her, yelling for Rarity as she ran.
>When you had met with Rarity, you had been careful to uphold your courteous demeanor.
>She had been as generous as Twilight had said, offering you both a job and a home.
"When do I start and what do I do?" You had asked her.
>"Well... right now if you would be so kind. I have to go met my friends at a party for another friend's, Pinkie Pie that is, pet alligator. Sweetibelle will be leaving for school shortly and the shop will be unsupervised. You will not have to do much. Just stand there and look pretty."
>She laughed to herself.
>"At least that's what I do when I am not designing and sewing new dresses. If somep0ny comes in and wants to make a purchase or place an order, make sure you write it down in the sales book and put the money in the safe. Easy enough really."
>And it was. Easy and incredibly boring.
>She and her sister had both left not long after you conversation, leaving you alone in the shop.
>You had initially been surprised at by Rarity's trust, but in the following days you had realized that bad intentions were rare in this land.
>That first day there were no customers.
 
>The two sisters eventually came home.
>Rarity showed you to the guest bedroom, which was very small and plain (a bed and a bureau,) and had assured you that she would fit you for some suitable clothing when she found the time.
>You had asked her what you ought to do with your free time.
>"Whatever you like Anonymous. It is your life to live, save for the time you will give me."
>The bed was pretty uncomfortable, and you could never sleep very soundly.
>The day after, you had walked downstairs where breakfast was being arranged by Sweetibelle.
>Rarity had walked down, eyed the kitchen, and left without a word.
>That was the first time you had noticed the disconnect between the sisters.
>Most of the food had been inedible, but it was food, so you ate all you could.
>Sweetibelle had been pleased at least.
>You spent that day doing the same thing as the prior one: standing behind the counter looking out the window.
>A few customers had trickled in, but despite you efforts at hospitality, few bought anything.
>Rarity returned around 4pm from the spa she later told you. Come to think of it she was there at least once a day while you were bored out of your mind at the store.
>That second day she said:
>"Anon darling, could I ask of you a favor?"
"Sure. What would you like?"
>"Could you go to Pinkie Pie's house and ask her to meet me at Applejack's farm? It is for her birthday party, but do not tell her that. It is meant to be a surprise party.""
 
"Sure. Where is it?"
>"You will not likely miss it. Near the center of town is a large building that looks to be made from pastry. It is a bakery after all."
>Happy to be relieved of the tedium, you had headed over to the bakery.
>After you had arrived you knocked twice.
>There was no response, so you had looked around to make sure nop0ny was watching, and had slowly opened the door.
>Inside was a table set up with food, drinks, and other party favors.
>Around the table the "guests" had been seated, and by guests you mean inanimate objects with party hats.
>At the head of the table sat the hostess, a pink p0ny with long, straightened pink hair, eyes somewhat crossed, mumbling quietly to herself, with a deranged smile plastered on her face.
>It should have been obvious at the time, nut still you had asked:
"Pinkie Pie?"
>The smile dropped, and she stopped muttering long enough to look up and glare at you.
>"You were not invited to this party. Leave."
>You had grasped for words, disturbed by the sight, eventually just nodding and backing out the door, shutting it in front of you.
>That's how you had met Pinkie Pie.
>When you had returned to Rarity and informed her of what had happened, she she dismissed it with a laugh, saying:
>"Oh that is just Pinkie. I guess I will find someone else to get her."
 
>You gathered from that experience that this land was not to cheerfully bright and happy as it had seemed.
>The next day had begun as the last two had.
>You still noticed the distance between the two sisters. It seemed like the younger tried to impress the elder, who did her best to avoid her in return.
>You made no comments. It wasn't you place.
>You ate your inedible food and worked your boring shift.
>When Rarity had come home from the spa, she told you that she'd be spending the rest of the day working on dresses and that you could have the rest of that day off.
>You had asked her:
"Rarity, do you think Twilight is home?"
>"She usually is, unless her friends, myself included, drag her from that library, she prefers to be a shut-in."
>"I'll be over there if you need me then."
>"Oh before you leave, here are some bits for your work the last couple days. Spend them wisely."
>You later found that what she had given you was barely enough to buy a few food items.
>She had then turned, put her glasses on and got back to her work.
>When you had gotten to the library, the door was left ajar so you had walked in.
>There were a few books on the ground, and neither Spike or Twilight had been around, but you heard voices from the kitchen.
 
>You had picked them up and arranged them into a little pile on the desk.
>You had noticed that the top one was a fresh looking copy of a star guide. You brought that one with you as you made your way to the kitchen.
>She was with a cyan pegasus with a disheveled rainbow mane.
"Hey Twilight. What's up?"
>They both turned to face you, the pegasus quickly and with a shameful look on her face.
>"Oh hey Anonymous. Dash and I were just discussing..."
>The pegasus proceeded to interrupt her.
>"Nothing. We were just hangin' out."
>She noticed the book under your arm.
>"Hah. The monkey's an egghead just like you. I'm Rainbow Dash by the way. Best flier in Equestria."
>"Again with the egghead talk? Weren't we just..."
>"Anyway I have to get going. It was cool to meet somep0ny new. I've got...um important weather stuff to do."
>With that she had ran to the backdoor.
>Twilight called after her.
>"I'll let you know if I find that..."
>"You do that. Later."
>She took off from the backdoor before you could even say one word to her. You looked at Twilight.
>"What was that about?"
>She sighed.
>"She wouldn't want me to tell anyp0ny, so I won't. Suffice it to say that she's embarrassed by something that's not at all shameful. What book do you have there?"
 
"Oh there were a bunch of books on the floor. I picked them up and noticed this one. It's a star guide."
>"Yeah Dash kinda... dropped in today. That's a new copy because the old one got burned. I rather like it. What have you been doing?"
"I went to Rarity like you recommended. She gave me a job and a roof over my head. The jobs kind of sucks though. She gave me the rest of today off, so I figured I'd come see you."
>She smiled.
>"I'm flattered Anonymous. If you're going to hang out here, would you like something to eat?"
>You gave the most genuine smile you'd given in the past couple days.
"That would be awesome. Rarity's little sister does not know how to cook."
>Twilight had laughed at that.
>"So I've heard. I don't usually bake, hat's Pinkie's area of expertise, but the apple pie I started before Rainbow Dash interrupted me is pretty much done. Have you met Pinkie? She's the friendliest p0ny here."
>"Uh yeah I met her, but I'm not sure we're talking about the same p0ny. She seemed...off."
>Twilight had then brought the pie over to the table, neatly sliced.
>"Well she's a character all right."
>She then slid you two pieces of the pie.
>Even now, you couldn't exactly shake off that sight.
"I'll keep that in mind."
>"So what do you want to talk about Anonymous?"
>By that point you had finished the first slice of you pie.
>You had asked her to fill you in on her friends that night.
>For the rest of the week up until now, you went to the library as soon as Rarity let you leave the boutique.
>It was nice to hang out with Twilight, and you sure didn't mind the food, it being the only real food you ate.
>Unfortunately Twilight was going to the Gala, so this night wouldn't follow suit, but you were still free to do what you wanted.