A City of Opportunities

by Sasha Nein

Epilogue

“Ha! Can you believe it?” Vinyl cheered, skipping down a busy street with Octavia at her heels. “A commission from the... Who were they again?”

Octavia sighed in exasperation, but she couldn’t hide a smile. “Manehattan Music Club, Vinyl.” She shook her head. “It’s not like it’s hard to remember.”

Vinyl laughed; an easy, carefree sound that Octavia was finding infectious. “Who cares about their name? We just got the dream job for any music artist. No office obligations, no set work hours. We don’t even have to live here!”

The audition had worried Octavia, but Vinyl had blown them all away with her compilation and on the spot DJ abilities. While Vinyl may not get to be in the direct limelight with this job, it was still an amazing position. All they had to do to make a steady paycheck was to mail in a reasonable amount of music every month.

The unicorn DJ suddenly veered off the sidewalk and into a ring of tables. “Shall we celebrate with lunch?”

Manehattan. It was so different from Canterlot. The streets were clogged with ponies and they went on for miles. It was certainly seedier than Equestria’s capital, but no less grand with its architecture and vastness. Everywhere there were shops, vendors, restaurants and businesses of all kinds packed in and around the buildings which housed more respectable establishments. Above most of these stores were homes that the owners lived in. A pony could live his entire life on just a single street.

Here there was no ‘upper class’. There were no ‘market’ or ‘clothing’ sections for shoppers. Canterlot was gridded off into clearly defined sectors, but Manehattan was a sprawl. A pony might never know what he would find around the next corner. In some cases it was a little dangerous, but not as bad as some places Octavia had been to.

The cafe Vinyl had selected was made up of a few tables and chairs, a gangly zebra at a large grill and a large stallion watching a money box. Still, the food smelled, and looked, excellent. You had to be good, if you wanted to thrive in this city.

“The only problem will be finding a place for us to set up our equipment.” Vinyl continued, seeing Octavia’s confused expression, “You know... With us moving so much?”

Octavia slumped. “I’m sorry, Vinyl...”

The zebra brought over two large helpings of hay fries and grilled vegetables. When the restaurant only served one thing it made the selection easy to choose from and the wait time negligible. Octavia nodded to him as he set them down on the table.

“Don’t be,” Vinyl said after he left. “Besides, it’s not like we’ve got very much anymore after Trottingham.” Octavia winced, but Vinyl didn’t seem to notice. “All we need is a place without stairs. I’m sure that after our first commission we’ll have more than enough bits to get a place anywhere we want.”

Octavia nodded, not really paying attention anymore. She dug into her food zealously. Spending the morning walking around Manehattan would give anypony an appetite. Her eyes never stayed in once place, though. They roamed over a giggling couple walking past their table to the lone stallion sitting on the other side of the cook. He was keeping an eye on them, probably making sure they didn’t bolt before paying.

There wasn’t much of interest to see. The roiling mass of ponies in the streets was constantly shifting and changing. It was a good place for them to be, always moving and in public, but it made for stressful and long days.

“...in Ponyville.”

Octavia shifted and shrugged. A small town would be nice. While it would be easy to know if anypony was watching or following them, it was also easier to be found. Was it worth the compromise? At the worst they would just have to leave.

Her eyes moved back across the street... And landed on the giggling couple from before. They had found their own table a ways down. The mare was staring right at her, but looked away quickly when she caught Octavia’s gaze. She wouldn’t have given it a second thought if it wasn’t for the fact that she was sitting opposite her stallionfriend, while in a booth, and he was staring at her as well.

“... Hello?” Octavia’s attention snapped back to Vinyl who was waving a hoof in front of her. “Are you even listening?”

“I apologize. What did you ask?” She took a bite of her fries, but watched the booth out of the corner of her eye.

Vinyl rolled her eyes. “I was just making suggestions other than Ponyville. There’s plenty of other cities. We could try Las Pegasus.”

Vinyl continued speaking, but her attention drifted back to the couple at the booth. The stallion glanced at her, but then turned to his mare and said something. She seemed to laugh, but afterwards he glanced back at Octavia again.

“You want to go to Ponyville now?” Octavia asked, cutting off Vinyl.

“And I... What?” Vinyl leaned back and gave Octavia an incredulous look.

Octavia looked at Vinyl. “I say we grab our things and hop on a train right now to Ponyville.”

Vinyl narrowed her eyes at Octavia, but said nothing. Octavia raised an eyebrow and took a bite of her lunch, then glanced at the couple in the booth again. Vinyl turned and followed her gaze across the street.

After a moment she turned back to Octavia with a frown. “If you think that would be best, I’m fine with it.”

Octavia nodded. “Wait here, I will pay the bill.”

She stood and walked towards the stallion near the grill. “Enjoy your meal?” he rumbled with a small smile.

“Very much, thank you.”

After a moment of pleasantries Octavia hoofed him a few bits and returned to Vinyl. “Let’s go.”

As they walked out of the cafe, Octavia glanced at the booth again. It was empty. She narrowed her eyes and glanced around them while urging Vinyl to hurry. Just as an empty street would draw attention to them, a full street had its own cons. It was only a matter of time before somepony would get a drop on her in such a large crowd. It only took one mistake from her before it was over.

Yes, Ponyville would do just fine.

The End.

Author's Note:

Brought to you in a timely manner by: Manehattan

Blog post talking about ACOO and myself: Click Me!

Comments

[Blightmare]

I powered through this in one sitting and now I'm sad it's over. :(

I did notice one continuity error. It's minor but it stood out to me more because of how fast I read through this. At the start of the story you describe Pegasi as being more hardy than Earth ponies and good at taking a beating but then at the apartment fight towards the end you describe Pegasi as not that sturdy. Just thought I should point that out. :P

Otherwise, very engaging story.

[Swashbucklist]

Nice ride. It's a shame Octavia and Vinyl have to go on the run, but the open-ended epilogue with its promise of future dangers for the heroes carries a nice weight with it.

Thanks for writing this cool fic, and especially for seeing it through to the end!