Laughter is One Letter Short of Slaughter

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: credit to hasbro for my little pony and credit to shalaar on tumblr for slaughtershy.

Walking down the crowded main street of Baldwinsville, Axel felt increasingly uncomfortable. Ever since he had left his own town in Southern Germaneigh, the young Pegasus had immersed himself so much in working, decorating his house, and reading that he had never found the time to make friends with the other ponies of the town. Now, he felt strange amongst them. As they trotted past him in couples and groups, he felt like they were looking at him and whispering about him. He had never felt so uncomfortable in his life.

Eventually Axel worked up enough courage to approach three ponies that were standing by a lamp post talking merrily. He drew up next to them, and asked, "Pardon me, but do you have the time?"

They looked at him, disapproving of his intrusion. "No." answered one of them. "We don't."

Hearing this was too much for Axel. Tears rushed to his eyes, and he felt horribly ashamed. He ran back up the street and cantered down the road to his house, crying. He threw the front door open, slammed it shut behind him, tripped on a lump in the carpet, and crashed into the basement door, knocking it open and tumbling down the spiral staircase into the library he had built in his basement. He lay there on the floor, soaking in his despair and thinking about his life. "'How could I have been so naïve? I had everything I could have wished for in Germaneigh, but I left it all for this," he whispered to the books on their dark shelves.

Then, just as he was beginning to calm down, he thought he heard a sound from upstairs. He perked his ears. Yes, someone was definitely knocking at the front door. Axel picked himself up, and slowly climbed back up the stairs. He opened it, slowly sticking his head out the crack in the door. He spoke softly, still half crying. "Uh... is there an- anything I can do for you?"

The gray unicorn that stood on Axel's doorstep replied with a slight nod of his head. "Yes. I saw what happened back there and followed you. I wanted to come and make sure you were alright."

Hearing this cheered Axel up a bit. He gave the pony a small smile. "Yes, I'm a bit better now. Knowing that somepony cares about me in this town helps." He opened the door to let the unicorn in.

The unicorn looked around at the inside of Axel's house in awe. "Wow! I never would have guessed it from outside, but you sure know how to decorate a place," he said.

Axel grinned. "Thanks! It's not my best work, but it'll do until I get more money."

His gray friend gasped. "But this place is awesome as it is! Why would you want to improve on something that's already perfect?"

Axel blushed under his coat and stammered out further words of gratitude. Their conversation slowed to a halt until Axel realized he had forgotten to introduce himself. "Sorry," he apologized. "I haven't told you my name. I am Axel Levletribgen."

The unicorn chuckled. "Nice to meet you, Axel. I'm Adrian Stone." Adrian gave Axel a slight bow.

Axel was surprised. "Why are you bowing? I'm not royalty."

"It's an Equestrian thing," Adrian answered. "I guess you haven't been here too long, huh?"

Axel and Adrian ambled around the house for a while. Axel chatted to Adrian about his old life in Germaneigh as Adrian admired Axel's superbly decorated rooms. He was most impressed by Axel's library, exclaiming "ooh!" and browsing around the carved wooden racks for a long time.

Eventually, the two found themselves by the front door again. "Well, I'm going to get going now. It was nice meeting you," said Adrian.

"It was nice meeting you too," replied Axel. "Stop over any time you want, ok?"

Adrian smiled. "I will," he said.

Axel watched him trot off down the road before closing the door. He went down to his library again to read, but found that he couldn't keep his mind on the book in front of him. He looked over at the clock on the wall and noticed it was nearly 9:00 PM. If it was that late, he figured he might as well go to bed. He put his book away and went upstairs, where as soon as he lay in bed, his dreams took over.