Being Normal in Equestria

Guy turned and made his exit down the stairs and past the secretary, still deep in her book. She didn’t even glance up as he left. Once back outside in the sun, Guy kept his focus on levitating the note in front of him as he looked around for the Quills and Sofas shop. Lucky for Guy, it was very close with a nice big sign. Guy approached the shop, so thrilled to finally have something generic to do in Ponyville that he didn’t pay any special attention to all the technicolor ponies milling about.

Guy pushed the door open with his hoof and entered as the jingling of the store’s door bell went off above his head. Once inside, he spied a male pony with sleek brown hair standing behind the counter arranging varying types of quills in some sort of pattern. He looked up at the sound of the bell and said,

“Welcome to Quills and Sofas! Anything I can help you with today?”

Guy stepped up close to the counter, “I sure hope so. I was just at the mayor’s asking about work and the possibility of a spare room in Ponyville, I’m new to town you see, and she told me you had both!”

The pony’s eyes lit up, “Well that sure was quick! I take it that note there is for me?”

Guy nodded and levitated it to the counter, where the pony pulled it to himself with his hoof and read it carefully.

“Mhm, mhm, works for me! What’s your name, son?”

Guy perked up his ears and said, “Guy, Guy Colt.”

“Well, nice to meet you Mr. Colt. You can call me Davenport. It’ll be nice having a unicorn working with me to help with some of the lifting and repairs.”

“Nice to meet you too, Mr. Davenport.” Today was going about as perfect as Guy could have hoped.

Davenport stepped out from the counter,

“Suppose I should show you to where you’ll be staying. It’s right up these stairs.” He turned and began up some stairs with the implication that Guy would follow. Naturally, Guy did. He continued as they walked,

“It’s a small room, but I wasn’t using it for anything except storing some of the old sofas people trade me to get a discount on a new one. It hasn’t got any real furnishings other than that, but feel free to use them or scrap them. I usually send a few off by delivery Pegasus every couple weeks for recycling. Anyway, here it is.”

Davenport pushed open a door to a small room with a single window on the far wall. Lining the walls were six different types of old, worn-looking sofas. One appeared to have been crushed in some way and had some pieces of broken wood sticking out of it, one looked like a wild animal had torn away the cushion, and the rest just looked tattered and frayed. Guy felt a sense of comfort and calm wash over him as he let it soak in that this would be the space he would regularly find himself in.

“It’s perfect,” Guy said enthusiastically, walking into the room and pressing his hoof onto the various sofas. One had a decent enough cushion that Guy knew he would claim that one as his regular seat/bed.

“Great! Glad to hear it. Are you up to your first task as assistant salespony?”

“Yes, sir,” Guy said as he exited the room and used his magic to pull the handle shut.

“Excellent. As you can see, I wear a very special work uniform. I wasn’t expecting to have an assistant quite so soon, so I haven’t had one made yet. I’ll need you to make a visit to Rarity’s Boutique and have it commissioned.” With that, Davenport began back down the stairs. Guy followed.

As they reached the front counter again, Davenport pulled out a piece of paper from a drawer and put a pencil in his mouth, scrawling something onto it. He finished and handed it to Guy, who levitated it in front of himself.

“This is the order for Rarity. I just need you to deliver that to her and she should take care of the rest. Oh, and you’ll need a few bits for that.” Davenport pressed a button on the cash register at the end of the counter and removed some bits, put them in a small pouch, and set it on the counter in front of Guy.

“Have you got a saddlebag?” he asked as he looked at Guy’s empty back.

“Afraid not. None of my old stuff made the trip with me.” Guy thought back to all the time he spent picking out wonderfully bland clothing that would make sure to keep him as neutral and unnoticed as possible.

“Not to worry. I always keep an extra one lying around.” Davenport walked to a box in the corner behind the counter and rustled out a set of blue saddlebags, holding them by the middle strap with his mouth. He walked up to Guy and placed it on his back. They were pretty lightweight and it felt quite comfortable to Guy. It reminded him of wearing backpacks back in grade school.

“Alright, you should be all set,” Davenport said as he turned back to his quill arranging. “See you soon!”

Guy used his magic to open up his righthoof saddlebag and then focused on the paper and money pouch at the same time. He found that it was not much more complicated to move multiple items with his mind. He levitated them into the bag and then closed it.

“Thanks for everything!” Guy said as he exited the store and re-entered the sunlight. Now he just had to locate this Rarity pony.