Garage Sale, Thift Store, and Flea Market finds

I know that some of you collectors out there get frustrated when you try pony-hunting in real life, and some people seem to have all the luck, finding $4 Dabbles and Ice Crystals at boot sales who are already safely in the clutches of happy little girls.

But for me, the fun is in the chase. I've actually had a lot of "finds." But it's very time-consuming and the ponies I've found are a miniscule fraction of the time I've spent searching. This is what I've found in my two fanatical years of secondhand shopping.

I used to go to four thrift stores every day to check and usually found one thing every several weeks or months. This summer (up until my dad got sick) I went to every garage sale I could find in 3 different towns and only had one eureka.

• Baby Stockings #1: She was my very first pony find! I got her out of the dime bin at a thrift store. She's in good condition but for the eye chip. She was extremely dirty when I found her, but she cleaned up real nice.

• Baby Stockings #2: Oddly enough, the second pony I found was the same as the first. She was in a $2 bag of small toys, so I bought the entire bag, ripped her out, and re-donated the rest.

• Wave Runner: Wave Runner would have been found in the dime bin at the thrift store, but they raised the price. My secondhand-shop searches had long been barren and I was thrilled to see it come to fruition.

• Megan: I found Megan at a Barbie stand at a flea market in early March (2004). She even has her panties!

• Molly: Unfortunately, Megan is unaware that her baby sister is promiscuous, because alas! Molly was found at a thrift store 500 miles away from her sister and her undergarments were nowhere to be seen.

• Sweet Scoops: very poor condition, mane cut, symbol rubs, front hoof bitten off, I didn't buy her.

• Pony Bonanza: This was my first (and almost only) garage-sale find over the summer of 2004. I followed signs to a barn sale and it took me about 15 miles into the boonies. I was getting frustrated that it took so long. I would have missed the place if I hadn't been following (all right, tailgating) a truck that was going about 28 miles per hour in a 55 zone but he turned in at the sale. I looked all through the barn and was ready to throw in the towel when what to my wondering eyes should appear but a pony butt! It was Parasol, poor thing, and she was missing her tail. Then I found Daddy Sweet Celebrations, also with an MIA tail. I asked if they had any more and they dithered for awhile and said "well, we did, but a little girl bought two of them yesterday, we used to have a lot more, I wonder if they're in here?" And the lady pulled out a 10-gallon Rubbermaid tub and let me dig through. "I know Annie had a whole bunch she gave us, I'm sure we couldn't have sold them all. Annie gave them all up when she turned 21," the lady chattered. She pulled out another tub with telletubbies and smelly plaid shirts but when I dug through, I found a So-Soft Cupcake and kept digging and ended up with 18 well-loved ponies and a few good-condition ones to boot. I bought them all. THANKS, Annie!

• Baby Noddins: I found Baby Noddins just last week (early September, 2004). She was in a sorry-looking bin of toys at a lonely little yard sale. I pulled her out and asked if they had any more, but they didn't. I asked how much she was and the lady said "you can just have her." And I said, "really? Are you sure?" and the lady said "Yes, just take her!" so I did.

• Baggy of Accessories: I don't collect accessories and they don't sell, so I gave them away to the girl who bought a HTF from me.

• NSS Gusty: I found NSS Gusty at the Salvation Army one Saturday morning when I was still babysitting Julian Hellspawn.

• TAF Dancing Butterflies: She was the last Salvation Army find I've had to date since I moved and don't get to go very often. I popped in just to check on my way to visit Tunaface and she was nestled in with the Barbie dolls.

• Duck Comb: My mom found this for me at a garage sale yesterday. I overlooked it but she bought it for a nickel. I asked her how she knew it was a MLP comb and she said that I had her well-trained, and when I was a kid, she spent hours and hours deliberating over which one to get me.

• ZigZag Zebra: missing his tail, I didn't buy him

• Antique Store Lot: most of these were in played with condition for rip-off prices, so I just admired them but didn't buy. There were about 10 fakies and 5 real ponies.

• Star Hopper: I found Star Hopper at the Salvation Army in July, 2003. I didn't have the $1.50 they were asking for her so I stowed her away in the far corner under some sheets and she was still there when I came back to pay. This was the store version, or like my childhood mail-order sparkle ponies, her facial symbol had worn off over the years. She was in mint condition, but I gave her away to a girl named Kendra who went to the preschool where I worked, because somewhere Kendra had gotten a Sky Rocket and it was her only pony. So I told her that a kid can't just have one pony to play with and gave it to her and she was very happy.