My Little Brony

"All right, you can pick out one toy" were words every child wanted to hear. Shopping at Walmart would have been a bore for Rachael if the possibility of any toy of her choosing wasn't promised. Otherwise, she'd just stand there in the middle of the grocery aisle, running back and forth till she got tired. Then, she would beg her mom to let her ride in the kart. The answer was always no. Eventually, Rachael caught on to how this worked. If she was good and didn't run up and down the aisles screaming her head off, she would get a toy. If she did, she would not.

So Rachael did what she had to do. She swallowed any urge to sing or call. She wiggled her toes to burn off any energy she had. She even helped her mom pick out some cereal. All the while, she checked to see if they were heading to the toy aisle. Her mom always stopped by the toy aisle by the end of the shopping, when the kart was nearly full. Once Rachael's mom placed that bag of frozen peas on top of the make-at-home macaroni, did she know, it was toy time.

She raced to the aisle, anticipating one particular kind of toy. There was something she wanted more than anything in the world, and that was Pinkie Pie the pony. For over a year now, she had been obsessed with My Little Pony, an animated TV show about female ponies having magic adventures. She loved the characters and had every pony back at her house. That is, except for one.

The My Little Pony toys were located on the far end of the aisle, where Walmart placed all the girly toys. She had to race past Legos, Hot Wheels, and Batman action figures to get to her ponies. She looked up and down, left to right, and even over and around for any glimpse of Pinkie Pie. But alas, there was none. There were other ponies, such as Twilight Sparkles and Rainbow Dash, but she already had them.

Rachael's heart felt heavy thinking of her ponies back at home, waiting for their friend. Denial set in, as Rachael sorted through the toy in the back to see if a Pinkie Pie was there. There was not. Then she looked over at the other girl's toys, thinking someone put one there by mistake. She saw Monster High Dolls, Barbie, Littlest Pet Shop, and DC Super Girls, but no Pinkie Pie. Rachael wanted to weep but knew her mom would definitely not buy her any toys if she began crying in the middle of the store. But she yearned for her lost pony. She wanted to bring her back home to her friends.

Then a thought came to her. She looked over at the boy's toys. Would Pinkie Pie be in there, somewhere? Nah, cause why would she be? Pinkie Pie was a My Little Pony, who came in a bright pink box. Surely whoever put the toys on the shelf could tell that the pink toys go with the rest of the pink toys. Yet something caught her eye. It was right behind a Mighty Max, peeking out a pink hue.

Rachael swatted the Mighty Max away and gazed in awe at what she saw. Pinkie Pie, wrapped in plastic with the cartoon on the print. She found her at last. Rachael wanted to leap, run across the aisles, and shout hurray. But she needed to be a good girl, and find her mom. Right when she was about to grab the toy, however, a hand shot around her and grabbed the pony.

"No!" yelled a nasally high-pitched voice. She turned, and to her horror, saw the biggest boy she had ever seen. His face was covered in pimples and wore a tight T-shirt that had splotches of sweat under the armpits. Rachael looked over and saw the man holding the Pinkie Pie toy.

"Excuse me, but can I have that toy? I really want it," said Rachael, trying to fight back tears. The man didn't say a word, he just turned around and walked down the aisle.

"Sir?" called out Rachael, causing the man to sprint. Rachael didn't know what to do. He was running? Why was he running? Should she chase him? She wasn't allowed to run in the store. It wasn't fair. That guy was bigger than she was, and was a boy. Boys didn't play with girl toys, especially older boys, so why did he take hers? The only one she wanted? She felt like sobbing again.

"There you are, Rachael." said her mom as she turned into the aisle. "Have you picked out a toy yet?"

Rachael wanted to tell her mom what just happened, that a big kid took the only Pinkie Pie. But she knew that would make her sound mean and selfish, and her mom wouldn't like that. Rachael looked over at a Monster High doll and grabbed that one.

"Let's see here," said Rachael's mom, picking up the doll and reading the box. "Frankie Stein? Oh! Like Frankenstein!"

"Who?" asked Rachael, wiping the corners of her eyes.

"He's a monster from when your grandpa was a boy. You saw one last Halloween, remember?"

Rachael had no idea what her mom was talking about, but she wasn't sad anymore. Suddenly, she liked this doll. Her mom handed back the toy, and Rachael was able to study Frankie Stein. She looked nothing like a My Little Pony, all black and white with weird stitches across her skin. She wasn't flashy like Pinkie Pie. And yet, she liked her. Rachael didn't know why, she just did.

"Are you sure that's the one you want?" asked Rachael's mom. Rachael looked back down at the doll, with one eye a different color than the other. She looked back up at her mom, smiled, and nodded.

"All right, let's head to the front. You can hold onto Frankie."

As they walked up to the front, Rachael wondered if the other ponies will like Frankie Stein. Would they accept her, despite not being a pony? And what of Pinkie Pie? Where she was going, Rachael hoped that boy took good care of her.