New Friends Can Be Found in the Frozen Goods Aisle
Crystal Clear pushed her cart down the grocery store aisle, scanning for that one brand of orange
juice she wanted. It had been a long day's work at the Ponyville radio station for the tan earth pony,
and she was hoping to finish up some errands before heading home. This wouldn't happen any time soon
though, as she could not decide between the only two brands of juice on the shelf. One had more
nutrients, but she was pretty sure the other one was tastier. Or maybe more pulp? No, definitely the-
"You keep standing there and those Mk 7s are gonna lock up on you."
"Huh?" She said, snapping out of her orange juice daze.
Turning and looking back at her legs, she instinctively flexed each one, making sure none of her Mk 7s
locked up on her. The Mk 7 was a prosthetic leg, from the industry leader in prosthetic legs, Crystal
Clear had one strapped to each of her four residual limbs, or stumps. None of her stumps went past the
knee or elbow, requiring more high tech prosthetic legs with extra joints and motors. Each one had a
durable plastic shell between the joints, painted tan like her coat, and rubber on the hooves for
extra traction. She moved them like she had owned them her entire life, which was almost true.
Making sure none of her legs had frozen on her, she turned to look at the helpful stranger, and found
herself looking at someone a lot like her. A stallion, who, like her, was a quadruple amputee.
She smiled, wondering if they could be good friends in the future.
The stallion standing next to Crystal Clear was a taller, lithe earth pony, with a light blue coat, a
dark, disheveled mane, and a cutie mark pertaining to mathematics of some sort. He was facing the
orange juice as well, not even bothering to look at the mare. Most interesting to Crystal Clear
though, was his legs. They were a light blue metal, slightly reflective, but eye catching nonetheless.
From her knowledge browsing shops and catalogs, his four prosthetic legs were imbued with special
magic to animate them. Magic prosthetic legs were a common alternative to conventional mechanical
ones, and both had their pros and cons.
"Mk 7's have had a spotty track record with that kind of thing," he said, his eyes not parting from
the juice bottles in front of him. "The Mk 8's are better. I prefer the custom magic ones, but that's
just opinion."
His voice was more subdued than soft, deadpan ruling his voice, and he seemed to be a man with a quirk
or two. Continuously changing his facial expression, his lips animated a whole story in front of
Crystal's eyes as he tried to decide what juice to get.
"I'm Crystal Clear!" She piped, turning to him and holding out a hoof. "What's your name?"
The stallion looked down at her hoof and followed the leg back up to her smiling face. Cracking a
small smile of his own, he shook her hoof with his own.
"Name's Sample Size, but that's too technical for some ponies so everyone calls me Sam."
"I think we could be good friends Sam! You know, given both our... uh..."
"Utter lack of legs?" He inserted, his deadpan holding fast. "Silly as it sounds, you might be right.
Would you like to come back to my place?"
Crystal Clear lifted a hoof to her chin, tapping it and pondering whether or not to go with this guy
she just met. She wanted to day yes, he was nice and all, but-
"I've got a lot of orange juice," he added.
That sealed the deal.
