Usually, when you start a story, you want to start with how the weather was that day. For some reason, many people seem to think that starting any sort of story has to include whether or not it was raining cats or dogs or angels or what have you, because the key to starting the scene is to start setting up an environment.

Like I give a shit about the weather on any date in my life. I was coming back from work and only cared about getting home. I don’t remember if there was a single cloud out that one day. I don’t know if it was hot or cold, or what clothes I was wearing, or if I stepped on random dog shit or not. I don’t really care, and I’m betting you really wouldn’t care either, you just want to see where my life went to shit.

I do remember one thing. I felt like shit. I think that day was when my friend got laid off from our work. Eh, friend is the wrong term. We were more like co-workers that tolerated each other more than the other co-workers.

I felt like shit because I felt that I should have been laid off that day, not him. I only have to take care of my sister, he’s the one who has to take care of an entire family, including a wife that, in my opinion, is the bitchiest bitch that ever bitched on Earth. Their whole family was crazy, and work was really the only place he had peace and quiet, and I was the only one that listened to him rant.

You tend to get bored when all you do is look at financial spreadsheets.

But, economy isn’t what it used to be, and holding a job at our level is never a steady situation. He’s out of a job, and I’m out of someone that could relieve my boredom.

And then, as I’m walking home from work, not knowing what I was stepping on and not caring about what the weather was, my life changed forever at that moment.

*Click ska ska!*

“Huh?” I looked down at my feet. I hit something with my right foot as I dragged it in my post-work depression walk. At first I thought it was a rock, since, you know, kicking a rock while you’re feeling down is usually what happens when you’re feeling down.

But, no. Instead, it was her.

Didn’t really think much at first. It was some toy, like a horse shape, and had some colorful fake hair on it. I picked it up and looked closely at it. Seemed to be a girl’s toy, and the face looked real goofy, even for a horse. Recalling what the brand for colorful tiny horse toys was, I remembered my sister would watch a show called My Little Pony. Seems to me like someone dropped their little pony.

Looking around, I saw absolutely no one near where the toy was dropped. I mean, I have a sister, and she knows money’s tight, so it would be good to show her I care for her and give her the toy, and just tell her I bought it randomly at the shopping center.

Didn’t seem too dinged up. It was a white pony, with colorful hair that could probably need a brush and some horse toy hair conditioner. It had a horn and it had wings, and its unblinking eyes had violet irises.

I’ve seen bits and pieces of the show while my sister watched it in the TV room. I don’t remember this pony, so I wondered if maybe it was supposed to be a cheap knock-off. Oh God, please don’t let it be a cheap knock-off. If my sister knew the show inside and out, she would probably be a little miffed that her brother got her a toy that clearly screams “I care for you, but I don’t want to spend enough money on you”.

Sure, money’s a problem. But I at least still want my sister to have a nice childhood. Ask any parent with money issues and they’ll probably say the same thing about their children. If they don’t, they’re probably bad parents. Maybe if I told her that a co-worker wanted to sell some of their daughter’s toys…

*bump*

Ow. Okay, so, my head has realized that I have arrived at the apartments, and my body realized it when my head bumped into the door for the apartments. I would try to laugh it off… but actually this isn’t the first that’s happened.

Maybe the weather was depressing? The bump on my head made the day a little bit worse. Walking up to my apartment, which I did by instinct and didn’t really realize my surroundings, I tripped on the last step of the stairs and fell on the floor. To make matters worse, the neighbor in the other apartment on my floor just got out of their door.

“Long day, Mr. Kierkas?” asked Miss Strombi. That wasn’t her real name, and I wouldn’t ever dare call her that out loud, but it was a nickname that my sister called her because she smells like cooked food.

“Mrf,” I so eloquently told her about the full experiences of my day. While I was on the floor. With my head feeling pain.

“How’s Millie? I heard your phone around the time that Millie usually comes in from school. She hasn’t come today yet, so that call was probably her or about her.”

“Bleh. I’ll check it,” I replied. A call right when she’s supposed to be here? Either something went bad or… something is good. As her guardian though, I am obligated to assume something went bad.

“Oh, I made an extra batch of pretzel dogs by mistake. Would you and Millie like them for tonight?”

Miss Strombi also was the head cook at some restaurant or bakery, and she likes to try out new recipes at home. Usually she takes the goods back to the shop, but she sometimes makes an extra batch of whatever she made and likes to give them to Millie and me. Millie loves her and her cooking, and I don’t complain because, hey, free food. Miss Strombi is kinda like a second mother to both of us.

“If the call is her saying she needs to stay at school for a project or something, yeah I’ll take them,” I accepted. She went back into her apartment before coming out with a silver tray full of tiny-as-hell hot dogs that were wrapped in what looked like soft pretzel bread.

Thank the Lord we have you for a neighbor, Miss Strombi.

“What is that in your hand, Collin?” Strombi said, pointing with a free hand at the pony toy in my grasp. I was still on the floor as she came back, never bothering to stand.

Hey, I had that kinda day, okay?

“What, this? Found it on the ground. Someone I guess dropped it and never came back for it, so I was gonna give it to Millie. I think she’ll like it.”

“Well that’s sweet of you, Collin. Now c’mon, get up. I’ve got to go back to work, and I’m guessing you’ll need all the hot water for a bath. Have a good day, Mr. Kierkas.”

I stood up and dusted myself off a little before taking the pretzel dogs and seeing Strombi go downstairs. After absentmindedly staring at the stairs for a bit, I took out my key to the apartment and went in.

The apartment was… nothing much to look at, like all other aspects of my life. We had the kitchen to my immediate right, the main room that Millie and I called the TV room, since we had the TV and most of our entertainment media there, then we had the two bedrooms and the bathroom in a little hallway on the far side of the door.

I went into the kitchen where I set the pretzel dogs and the pony toy down on the main table, before going to the side to check the home phone. I saw that there was two missed calls and a voicemail from a number that I didn’t recognize. Caller I.D. said it was a residence, so it might have been another home phone. Is Millie at someone’s house?

I pressed the voicemail button to have it dial my number and press the pin code to my voice mail box.

“Hi Collin, it’s, um, Millie. I’m calling from Katie’s house, I think you know her mother. She wanted to do a sleepover this weekend, but we had to start right after school. I know I’m supposed to come to you first about this, but I didn’t remember your work phone. If it’s okay with you, can I go to the sleepover? Oh, and could you bring some of my stuff, like my pajamas and my toothbrush? Thanks!”

Katie’s mother, Katie’s mother… Nope, not ringing a bell. But wow, Millie’s already at that stage of her life where she knows to ask for forgiveness than permission. They grow up so fast…

“Millie sounds like a sweetheart, doesn’t she?”

At the sudden and mysteriously feminine voice, I turned around. There, on my table, was the thing that would forever haunt my life for years.

A white horse with twitchy wings and a sparking horn, and colorful hair that flowed in some sort of wind, was standing on the table right where I had the toy before, and was the same size too. She looked at me with violet eyes and a smile, before she looked up at her horn and frowned.

“Oh, darn, the spell is malfunctioning…”

Now, see, I like to think of myself as a calm and rational individual. You don’t get to my situation in life without having a harder brain and maybe a colder heart. So, seeing as how a creature from what I assumed was from a show that my little sister likes to watch was now currently on my table complaining about something, I did what any calm and rational individual would do in that event.

I fainted.

Author's Notes:

I think this is now the...uh... 4th story that I'm working on.

I'm pretty sure I write these stories because I have Writer's block with my other stories.

Weirdest Writer's block anyone could have.

Anyways, fav and like if you like the story, and want me to continue it!

Also this one is self-edited, so if something's wrong, and it doesn't seem like it's supposed to be there, let me know.

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Edit: Well, this was my first fic that managed to get featured at the first chapter. Thanks a lot guys!