Sweet Sacrifice

"The good times of today are the sad thoughts of tomorrow."

-Bob Marley

My eyes slid open slowly, oppressed by the bright stream of golden light flowing through the thin curtains in my window.

I laid there, taking in the events of my dream.

What in the hoof was that? A nightmare? It must have been. What else could it have been?

I shook my head and attempted to gather my thoughts. I looked around my small room (more of a trot-in closet, really), seeing my calendar, amongst other things, hanging in its normal place next to the window. Upon closer inspection, I saw the days leading up to Thursday crossed out. Today was Thursday, so I had to go in to work early and stay late. I sighed and rubbed my eyes with my hooves. Those damned animals would be the death of me, but I desperately need the bits that comes with them.

With a sigh, I climb to my hooves and go about my daily routine.

Get up.

Have breakfast.

Feed Winston.

Clean the litter box.

Clean self.

Go to work.

I entered into the shop and walked over to Summer, who was currently on shift.

"Summer." I said curtly. She looked up from her florist's magazine and smiled.

"Hey Rettie. Thanks again for covering my shift!"

"It's no problem." I bit back the other half of my reply, figuring she'd get pissed that the only reason I'd agreed to it was because I'd be paid overtime.

"Cool. Thanks again." She stepped out and began to walk out the door. She stopped at the door.

"Oh yeah! One thing- we've got a special order that's supposed to get picked up today around four. A miss "Shy" should be here for it." I nodded and motioned for her to be on her way.

"Got it." And with that, I was alone in the pet shop.

Business was slow that day, never more than one pony in there at a time. The only thing that broke up the mundaneness was the occasional question that even a foal could answer.

"What's the difference between this and that?", "Should I feed so and so this or this?", "What the f*ck is that thing?"

Oh. My. Bucking. Celestia. Those ponies were idiots. If I wasn't desperate for some coinage, I would've quit a long time ago.

By the time 4 rolled around I was out of it, already extremely tempted to clock out and lock up. Maybe go for a stroll in the park and relax under the shade of the maple tree. Let the cool of the shadows and wind pass over me and mix with the warmth of mid afternoon... Perhaps taking a thermos of tea with me to sip as time passed me by. Yeah, that would be nice.

"Um, excuse me." I looked up from the spot on the floor that I had been staring at. A butter yellow pegasus with a light pink mane was standing in front of me on the other side of the counter. I recovered as best as I could.

"Oh, uh, sorry miss. (Ahem) How can I help you today?" The mare recoiled when I had raised my head to look at her, and she withdrew further when I spoke to her. She lowered her head timidly and gave a reply barely above a whisper.

"I have an order to pick up." A quick glance out of the corner of my eye granted me a peek at the clock, which read just a little after four.

"Ah, yes. The 4 o'clock. Miss Shy, I presume?" The meek pegasus simply nodded, her gaze still averted.

"Okay. Wait right here, I'll be back in a moment." I made my way around the counter and brushed past her, moving on to the back room and the spoils within.

It was a somewhat spacious area. Sparsely furnished, most of the empty space reserved for stock and special order storage.

"Okay. Lets see... Shy. Shy..." I said to myself as I scanned the broad shelves, looking for whatever it was that the customer just outside the door had ordered. My gaze passed over packages, boxes, bags, and all manner of containers.

I eventually found the desired object: a square box, labelled "Rawhide Meats & Meat Byproducts", with the word "Shy" hastily scribbled across a corner. Any questions I had were pushed to the back of my mind. It was unprofessional and downright rude to ask somepony about a subject as touchy as this.

I summoned energy to my horn and willed the thing to float. It obeyed my commands, and I guided it back to the front room.

"Okay, this is it." I called out to get her attention and made my way over to the counter, setting the box on it and floating a clip board to my face.

"Let's see here... Special Order, number 877-701A... Shipment of ground beef, approximately 10 pounds in weight; holding charge. That'll be 24 bits, ma'am." The mare nodded and produced the coins, which she put on the counter. I placed them in the coin register and wrote up her receipt, while simultaneously tearing the order from the clip board and tossing it into the trash. After finishing the receipt, I handed it to her and levitated the box onto her back. She jumped slightly at the unexpected pressure, but quickly relaxed.

"Thank you sir." She said. I opened the door before responding.

"Not a problem miss. Please feel free to come back any time." She nodded and passed through the door. Once she was completely through, I closed it and sighed. I was more than ready for the day to be over.

xxx

The clock read eleven when I walked into my house. A gnawing hunger was in my stomach, but I ignored it and gruffly plopped down on my bed. I was much too tired to do anything but sleep. The last thing I remember before succumbing to sleep was Winston playfully pawing at my hoof, which dangled over the edge of the mattress.