"2 nothing. Hold this L, man."
"Come on, dude."
"Nope. You gotta close up. See you tomorrow."
Jay sighed as he watched his coworker leave. It was 10 PM and wasn't supposed to be his day to close up, but it was now, given he had just smoked two games of rock paper scissors. It had really been a stupid decision.
Deciding to put the most taxing work first, he grabbed a broom from the supply closet and went around the store sweeping up the crap of the day that had been left on the floor. After sweeping up a large and rather thick dust bunny, he put away the broom and started checking the aisles for loose and damaged products.
The dollar store that Jay Alexander worked at was fairly small. He wasn't paid a lot, even though he spent more of his day working than at his leisure. It wasn't a lot of money, but it was enough. Jay reminded himself of this as he checked aisle after aisle ensuring no products had been opened or improperly replaced.
He was going through one of the last few aisles, closer to the counter, when he spotted something sitting on the shelf. He went over to it, and recognized it as one of the new My Little Pony toys. They had been selling surprisingly well recently.
This particular toy appeared to be a purple unicorn. It wasn't in any sort of packaging, which puzzled Jay. He wondered how it could have ended up sitting solo on the shelf while every other toy had apparently been sold. Shrugging to himself, he was about to dispose of the toy when a thought struck him.
He whipped out his phone and checked his calendar. His friend's little sister had a birthday coming up, and Jay had promised to buy a gift. He had mainly said it to sound like a solid friend, because he wasn't sure he had the money for whatever the hell little kids wanted in 2021. He knew it would be cheesy, but this toy could save him time and money, which was a huge help. If the kid didn't like it, he could play it off. He had only met her once, so he didn't really know her.
After a minute or so, Jay made up his mind. "Screw it," he said, pocketing the small pony figure.
When he got home, Jay flipped on the TV. It had been a long day, and it felt extremely good to be able to relax. When he got home from work, he liked to flip through channels and forget about his problems for a bit while he let the screen rot his brain. Tonight, he decided to watch a baseball game.
After a while, Jay's thoughts returned to the toy from the store. He took the pony figure out of his pocket and examined it. The unicorn had a blue mane that ended in a purple slightly darker than its coat. Turning it over, he noticed a name in tiny print on the bottom of one of it's hooves. It read Izzy Moonbow.
Setting the figure down on the table in front of him, he stared at it for a moment. "Izzy Moonbow," he said aloud. "Huh."
Turning his attention back to the baseball game, Jay stared up at the TV as the tiny pony figure suddenly turned to face him.
Then it spoke.
"Hi new friend!" came a voice. Jay jumped, expecting to see a person standing before him. After a moment or so, he noticed the pony figure on his coffee table, which was now staring up at him. He jumped again.
"Jesus!" he said, getting up and moving quickly behind the couch. "You can talk??"
"Yup!" said the tiny pony happily.
"Wha..." Jay could hardly think of anything to say, as if his brain had momentarily frozen.
"I'm Izzy!" the figure continued. "What's your name?" it pointed a hoof up at him.
Jay's brain worked furiously. There was a pony toy on his coffee table speaking to him. It was alive, and it was talking. Talking to him. This was not supposed to be happening.
It took a moment for Jay to accept this. He knew he wasn't hallucinating or dreaming, so it had to be real. Calming down, he took a deep breath. "Jay," he said. "My name's Jay.
"Hi Jay!" said Izzy happily.
You're not crazy, Jay thought. This is real. That thing is alive. He couldn't help but wonder if Izzy coming to life had anything to do with him speaking her name.
He was pulled from his thoughts as Izzy began to prance around the coffee table, inspecting the items upon it. "Ooh!" she said, staring into the screen of his iPhone. "I can see my face!"
Jay couldn't help but laugh. After all the crap he had been through this past week, it felt good to have something to smile about, let alone laugh about.
He watched as Izzy continued to comment on all the things surrounding her, wondering what he was going to do with this little pony. My little pony, he thought. How ironic.
Out of curiosity, Jay withdrew a marble from his pocket and placed it on the coffee table. "Ooh, what's this?" Izzy chirped, attempting to grab it with her tiny hooves. It made Jay smile to watch Izzy chase the marble as it rolled around the table, continuously escaping her grasp. After a while, a question popped into his head.
"Izzy, do you have a home?" he asked.
At these words, Izzy stopped, her ears drooping slightly, and looked up at Jay. "No," she said. "Nopony's ever taken me home before."
Ignoring the improper address, Jay thought back to how he had seen her sitting on the shelf alone. Presumably, no one had bothered with her given she wasn't in a package. She had probably been considered unworthy of spending money on by anyone who visited the aisle. Jay felt a sudden rush of sympathy for the pony.
Before he could respond, however, Izzy's face lit back up. "This could be my home!" she said, looking around.
In that moment, Jay only knew one thing to say. "Sure," he replied. "This could be your home."
He paused for a moment to think about how crazy he must look, sitting there talking to a miniature horse that was once again prancing around his coffee table, humming to itself. He sighed. He was going to have to think of a way to keep this from his friends, as it would not bode well for him if it was revealed that he had a pony toy as a companion.
Although he had likely just made the day of the pony standing before him, he had a lot of things on his mind that were beginning to make this moment less enjoyable. It must have shown in his expression, because Izzy inquired, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Jay replied idly. "It's just some stuff I have to deal with later."
The stuff happened to be the bills he was undoubtedly going to receive, which was stressing him out. He just barely made enough money at the dollar store to keep the lights on and food on the table, and the bills were continuously wearing his bank account thin. He wanted to force a smile to bring Izzy to a new subject, but couldn't bring himself to do it.
"Aw, it'll be okay!" she said, giving him a sincere smile.
"Thanks Izzy, but it can be hard to deal with certain things..." Jay trailed off, unwilling to say the word "alone".
"You won't be alone!" said Izzy, much to Jay's surprise. "You've got me now!"
Jay could never have explained how a tiny pony on his coffee table had understood the word he had omitted. It made him feel like he had a true friend, one that he could confide in more than the ones he had at work, or outside of it. It wasn't a feeling he could explain; he just knew that he trusted Izzy with anything he told her.
"Thanks," Jay said again, giving her a sincere smile, something he had not shed in a long time. The unicorn beamed at him.
"Well," Jay continued, leaning back onto the couch. His heart felt much lighter. "It was nice to talk to you, Izzy. Just wanted you to know that." He glanced back down on the coffee table, and his heart gave a small jolt.
Izzy was stationary on the coffee table, nothing but a toy.
Author's Note
Thought I'd write this lil fic, mainly because the idea seemed pretty good. Hope you enjoyed it, and remember that comments mean the world.
Peace.
With Time [Bonus Chapter]
Jay Alexander was not crazy.
But as he sat there, blinking at the toy that had just been talking to him, he wondered if he really was losing it.
In a somewhat desperate attempt to justify his sanity, he searched his memories for the moment when Izzy had first talked. At that moment, he had, in the back of his mind, suspecting that it had had something to do with him saying her name aloud. But what could he have said that ended their conversation?
Jay had felt better, more complete, and then he had looked down to see a toy again. He wondered if it was because of this feeling that Izzy had returned to her inanimate state. He had felt like he had nothing more to talk about; like he could just enjoy the rest of his day free of stress. But now that he was alone again, every problem on his mind returning.
He pushed the negatives out of his mind. This pony toy was an anomaly, and he felt resigned to understanding it. He picked the figure up and inspected it again, then, with his mind made up, he set it back down on the table.
"Izzy Moonbow," he said aloud.
"Hi!" the small figure chirped, having been brought to life by the sound of her name yet again.
"Wait...when I say your name, you come to life?" Jay asked.
"Yup!" she replied happily. "Pretty cool, huh? You can talk to me wheneeever you want!" On the word whenever, Izzy extended a hoof outwards for emphasis.
"Wow..." Jay said softly. He had never heard of such a phenomenon before, and it seemed extremely alien to him. "So what makes you turn back into a toy? Is it just when I'm not talking to you?"
Izzy put a hoof to her chin. "Huh. I dunno, actually. Maybe."
"Well, in any case," said Jay, looking around. "you wanna see your new home?"
"Oooh, yes!" said Izzy with an excited hop.
Jay never tried to think himself unhinged for talking to what was supposed to be a toy. Izzy Moonbow brought company into his life, company that made everything from his shitty job at the dollar store to the overwhelming bills a little bit more bearable.
He might even be able to call Izzy his best friend.
With time, of course.
Author's Note
Forgot that I wrote this lil ending, but here it is.
