> Life in ponyville: Back from Manehattan > by Lightning Crystal > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > 1. The ride back home > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I stared out the window of the train, looking out into the horizon, it always made me sad to do that in Manehattan, because it would always lead to me looking to Ponyville, where my friends were. I would get letters from them every week telling me how they missed me and how they wanted me to hurry up and get done with fashion, it would make me laugh because most of the time it was Vinyl sending the ones like those, Octavia would always want to know if I was fine, Lyra wanted me to keep telling her humans existed, and Bon Bon would always warn me not to encourage Lyra. It was three moths ago that I left to Manehattan and today, i'm finally on my way back home to Ponyville. "Excuse me, sir?" A voice said to me from behind, I turned around and saw who spoke to me was a mare. She was a pegasus, like me, she had a light blue coat with a dark blue mane and yellow eyes, I couldn't get a good look at her cutie mark. "Yes, what is it?" I asked. "I was wondering if I could sit here, if it's okay with you that is." She responded "It's fine." I said and then continued to stare out the window. I stared out that window for what seemed like hours, remembering my life in Ponyville for those few short weeks. "I'm Blue Cloud." Said the mare. "I'm Lightning Crystal, though my friends usually called me Light or Cry." I replied. She stared at me for a few more minutes. "You going to Ponyville?" She asked "Yeah I am, after three months in Manehattan." I said. "So I am assuming that means you have been to Ponyville before?" she asked. "Yeah, lived there for a couple weeks till my acceptance letter to fashion school came in the mail." I said. "So that's what your cutie mark means, fashion?" She asked. I looked at my cutie mark, a yellow lightning bolt made of crystal. "Yeah, that's exactly what it means." I replied. "That's pretty neat." She said. I stared back out the window and watched as the scenery went by, mountains, trees, rivers, and animals, all of them passed by without any hesitation. Time moved slowly, or at least that's what it seemed like to me. "Those are some mismatched items." Blue Cloud said. I looked next to me and saw them, Octavia's cello bow, Lyra's lyre, and the album I got from Vinyl. "Oh yeah these, I got them from some friends of mine in Ponyville." I replied. "They don't really fit together." She said "Yeah not really, but they still manage to bring me into their messes." I said. I sighed and looked back out the window, waiting for Ponyville to start showing itself, it would be a happy day for me. A few hours past as finally I could see it, Ponyville, I saw it clear as day. Tears started to form in my eyes as I imagined my friends, and how I would be able to see them once more. The train stopped and I ran off of the train, I kept running and running, not even caring if I ran anypony over, I just wanted to see my friends again. After what seemed like hours I finally got to my old house, I unlocked the door with the key I had hid in the bushes and walked inside, to my surprise it was just the way I had left it when I left Ponyville, I went to my bedroom and set all of my stuff down on my old bed, I quickly laid down on it and started to weep. "I can see my friends again." I said quietly to myself, it was a good feeling being home again, I never wanted to leave again. After that I hurried up and went to see Vinyl. I walked to her house and knocked on the door. "Coming!" Yelled a voice from inside the house, I recognized it as Vinyl. It was a little bit until she opened the door, when she did she stood there in silence, her glasses started to fall off of her face and I was able to see her red eyes. "Light!" She yelled and picked me up into a very strong hug. She was crying softly, she missed me so much, just as I had missed her. "Hey Vinyl." I said as I hugged back. "Did ya miss me?" I asked sarcastically. "Don't even start with that, I missed you so much, what are you doing here?" "I'm here" I paused and the finally added "For good." She tightened the hug and didn't stop. I could feel her tears as she hugged me, she genuinely missed me. After she let me go we caught up, I told her about how I was the last one they accepted, and how I met this mare named Coco Pommel, Vinyl wasn't interested in anything I had to say about Manehattan, she was just glad I was back. She told me about how it was while I was gone, she said that her performances weren't what they used to be, Octavia's as well as Lyra's performance with their instruments went down in quality, and Bon Bon was making lower quality candy. "Sounds like it was all my fault." I said "They were just sad that you left, but you're here now, we all need to meet up again, and even that little marefriend of yours, Silver Wing, was it?" She said as she gave me this look of slyness. I gulped and shook my head to regain my composure. "Yeah, that would be nice, let's all meet up tomorrow." I said. After a couple more hours of talking I headed back home and watched as the sun set as I was walking. By the time I reached my house it was night, I went inside and locked the door behind me. Looking around with a big grin on my face, "Ponyville, i'm back from Manehattan." I said to myself as I walked to my bedroom, and fell asleep. > 2. Catching up and a new friend > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I woke up the next day and went to my kitchen to get something to eat, but when I opened my fridge it was empty. "Forgot that I have no food here, should go buy some more later." I said aloud to myself as I walked to the living room. I decided to thoroughly check the house, just to make sure that Vinyl didn't break anything, and cover it up. I looked for about an hour before my stomach growled at me for food. "Clam down, i'll go get some now." I Said to my belly I walked out of my house and headed to a restaurant, but as I was heading there I felt like I was being followed, I didn't pay much attention to it so I just kept walking. Once I got to the restaurant and ordered my food I sat and waited, it was nice being in the quiet buildings of Ponyville, in Manehattan the most quiet I got was three seconds at a time. I breathed in deeply so that I could savor the smells, the oh so delicious smells. "That looks good." I heard this random pony say, I looked around and didn't find anypony near me. I decided to just eat it and be done, but a bit after I started eating I got sick, I looked closely at my food and didn't see anything wrong with it, but then I remembered that I didn't get much sleep. I stood up and asked for a take out bag and they gave me one, so I put my food in it. I walked outside and started heading to the field that I agreed to meet up with the others, but on my way there I heard crying coming from an alley, so I checked it out. I saw this mare, she was greeenish and her mane was a dark blue, but she didn't have a cutiemark, which was odd cause she looked to be around my age. I walked up to her and tapped her. "AHHHHH!" She yelled and scooted away "w-what d-do you want?" She asked. "I want to know why you were crying." I replied. "I-i don't have anything to eat." She said. "Then why not ask your mom to get you something to eat?" I asked. "I don't have a family either." She said flatly, obviously trying to lay down some guilt. "Oh." I said. I looked at her and felt bad about what I said I didn't know she was homeless. I sighed and handed over my food that I was going to eat earlier. "here you can have this." I said while rubbing the back of my head. "now go on and take it already." She took the bag of food and looked inside it. "T-this is for me?" She asked. "Yeah, listen I got to go so if you ever see me again don't hesitate to ask for some food." I replied. She ran up to me and hugged me tightly. "Thank you, nopony's ever been this nice to me before." She said while lightly crying, but I could tell those were tears of joy. "listen my name's Shi, and i'm glad you did this for me." She sad and then she kissed my cheek. I blushed very deeply to where I could feel like I was going to get heat sickness. "Hey no problem I was just trying to help." She walked off, and I went my own direction. I then facehoofed "I didn't tell her my name." It took me about five minutes but I got to the field, but nopony was there, I looked around. "Hello!" I yelled. Nopony was there, it was kinda odd. "Hello!" I heard Lyra yell. She then came running up to me and hugged me. "Good to see you too, Lyra." I said as I hugged her back. "Lyra don't do that!" Bon Bon said as she ran up to Lyra and I. "No I don't mind it too much." I told her. Octavia came out from the tree line and walked over, she was wearing the bow tie I gave her. "Hello Lightning" She said. "Hey Tavi, I see you're wearing the bow tie I gave you." I replied. "It was a nice sentiment, and it always made me feel as though you were right on stage with me, giving me encouragement." She told me with a slight laugh. "I see you found everypony else." Vinyl said as she walked past me from behind. "Yeah, but isn't there one missing?" I asked. "Oh if you mean that mare that chased after me when I slammed you onto the ground, she actually left you a note." Vinyl said as she handed me the letter. Dear Lightning I am sorry that I can not be there to see you again, but I got this new job with the weather factory, so I need to work year round, I will try to see you when I get some vacation time, again I am deeply sorry Sincerely Silver Wing "I have a feeling that we won't talk again for longer than three months." I said with a chuckle. "Yeah you might not, but at least you have us again, ain't that right Octy?" Vinyl said. "That is correct, and I thought I told you not to call me that." Octavia said obviously pissed off. "You two never change." Lyra said. "so Lightning, do you have something to tell me?" She added. "Oh right." I patted Lyra on the head. "Yes humans exist." I said. Lyra made a sqee sound and all of us laughed. I looked at the sky and sighed remembering how I meet all of them. I made Lyra happy by telling her what she wanted to hear, I apologized to Bon Bon for saying humans existed, I found Octavia playing her cello in this field, and I meet Vinyl after she smashed a vase over my head. All of those fond memories is what kept me going when I lived in Manehattan. "oh yeah, I have something for you guys." I said. "What is it?" They all asked. I reached into my saddle bag and pulled out different articals of clothing. "Vinyl this is yours." I said as I handed her a grey hoodie with blue stripes on it. "Whoa thanks." She replied. "Octavia, this one's for you." I gave Octavia a suit it was made of elegant silk and it was very fine. "I appreciate this very much." Octavia said. "Lyra's." I got her a nice red and white hat, it had a feather in it's rim. "Nice, just like a human." Lyra said with a gleam in her eye. "and finally Bon Bon." she had a cheff's hat made to look like a candycane. "It looks like candy, I love it, did you make this?" Bon Bon asked. "I made all of them, the fashion school helped me improve my work." I replied. They all hugged me and I hugged back we were all laughing and just having a good time in general. "I'm back." I thought to myself "and i'm not leaving." > 3. A party to remember > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I woke up the next day to knocking on my door, so I decided to go check it out. when I opened the door I got a face full of confetti. A pink pony with a puffy mane and tail jumped into my house and started setting up party decorations. "Umm excuse me, but what are you doing?" I asked while looking at the odd mare. "Setting up decorations for your party silly billy." She replied She then went back to setting up decorations. "No I mean why did you just barge into my house." I asked angrily. "I do that with everypony, and nopony seems to question it." She said. "Well I do, and what do you mean party?" I asked. "It's your welcome to ponyville party." She replied. "Sorry to break it to you but i'm not new to ponyville." I said. "What?" She said sadly. "Yeah, infact I have some friends here, Bon Bon, Lyra Heartstrings, Octavia Melody, and Vinyl Scratch." I said while trying to remember the name of that other mare I met just yesterday. "Oh, but I was told by Scootaloo applebloom and sweetiebelle that you were new here." She said while fiddling with her mane. "Maybe three months ago when I first saw them, but i'm not new to ponyville, officially i'm a resident for three months." I said while leading her out my front door. "Okay, but come to sugarcube corner later, okay?" She asked. "Sure whatever, just get out." I said. "Oh by the way, my name's Pinkie Pie." She said. "I'm Lightning Crystal, but my friends call me Lightning, Light, or Cry for short." I said as Pinkie bounced away. "What a weird pony." I thought to myself. I was walking to sugarcube corner as Pinkie asked me to. I was thinking to myself as to why she would just now hear about me and me moving to ponyville if she was going to throw me a party. I bumped into a pony and they knocked me down I looked around to see who did that, and to my surprise it was Shi. "Oww that hurt" She then turned to me yelling "hey watch where ya goi-" She paused and stared at me for a while not knowing what to say. "Umm my bad?" I said confused. "Oh i'm sorry, didn't think i'd run into you on the way to this party." "Party, oh you must mean the welcome party Pinkie Pie is throwing me." "That's the exact one i'm talking about." "Well sorry for running into you Shi." "It's not a problem." Her stomach growled loud enough for me to hear."umm hey, do you think we can get to that party now?" "Yeah let's go." I said as we walked to sugarcube corner together, I was kinda worried about Vinyl seeing me with Shi and spreading rumors, "But she wouldn't do that to me, would she?" I thought to myself. Shi and I walked on in silence to sugarcube corner. I could only imagine what she was thinking. We got to sugarcube corner and then We both walked inside, it was very dark inside I couldn't see my hoof infront of my face. :Surprise!" A bunch of ponies said when the lights turned on and confetti was tossed at me, I was really irritated. I looked around and saw Octavia, Lyra, and Bon Bon but not Vinyl. I walked over to my friends and started to have a good time with them. "Do any of you know where Vinyl is?" I asked. "Vinyl had a gig to do." Lyra said. "Oh well that's fine, so long as I have you guys here it's fine." I said while giving them a goofy smile. It was fun, I didn't expect it to be that fun. But then the lights went out and ponies started screaming, me included. "Yo Ponies, who's ready for these beats!" I hear vinyl yell. A dj booth came up from the ground and I saw Vinyl standing there ready to play some music. "Know let me show you how you really make a scene." "Ugh, Vinyl." I heard Octavia say from behind me. "Let's party!" Vinyl said as she put on some music. The music was awesome I loved it, but when I looked beside me I saw Octavia covering her ears. "Umm hey Tavi, what's wrong?" I asked. "I don't care for this unsuitable music as Vinyl calls it." Octavia said while making airquotes when she said music. I laughed because of what Octavia said, she might not have liked it but I did, and I was going to continue to listen to Vinyl's song. "Time for my BASS CANON!" Vinyl yelled and pulled out a speaker and aimed it to the crowd. "Oh shi-" I said as Vinyl fired it directly at me launching me through a wall and straight outside. I landed on my back and winced in pain. I was able to feel vibrations all over my body as my vision started fading. "Oh dude i'm so sorry." I heard Vinyl say. "Don't worry we'll take you to the hospital." I heard Lyra say. They picked me up and started taking me to the hospital. I heard them check me in and take me to my hospital room. "Okay i'll just make sure he gets better, you four can go back to your homes now." I heard a familiar voice say. I looked and saw that it was Redheart, she looked at me and gave me a warm comforting smile, then my vision went black. > 4. Drop that date > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After my visit to the hospital I went back home and just sat, I didn't want to get hurt again. Waiting, and sitting got kinda boring so I decided to go for a small walk close to home. When I opened the door I saw Vinyl in front of me waiting. "Um Vinyl, what's up?" I asked a little bit confused. "Oh not much Light." Vinyl stood there her face soon going red and then she turned away from me. "I need you to go out with me!" "Wait, what!" I shouted even more confused. "What do you mean you need me to go out with you!" "Listen it's not my idea." Vinyl turned back to face me again. "Okay yeah it is my plan but I have a good reason." I stood there and looked at her bemused as to what she had to say. "See there's this gig that I want to do, but, they won't let me unless I have a coltfriend or husband." "Why would they make that a requirement?" I invited Vinyl inside and sat down on my couch. "It's just odd, normally you could do your job without having that requirement." "Well they want me to show that I do have love." Vinyl sighed and placed her head in her hooves. "Please just go out with me." I stared at her for a bit, she was kind of cute, but she was also my friend, and I didn't want it to be awkward between us at all, but just as I was about to say no Vinyl cut in and said. "If you do this for me I promise I won't send you to the hospital for three weeks." 'Is that a threat, or an actual promise?' I thought to myself as I looked at her, eventually I gave in. "Okay fine, i'll go out with you, but it's only for this one job, got it?" I told her. "Got it, thank you so much Light, you won't regret this!" She hugged me and then ran out of my house quickly, I presumed it was to go tell the ponies that she was doing the job for. "What have I gotten myself into?" I asked myself as I laid down on the couch. "I hope this doesn't blow up in my face." I met vinyl at her gig at eight pm, I was impressed on how she looked, she was wearing a nice hoodie which most ponies would find odd, but not me, I mean, heck, i'm almost always wearing my cloak, even to this I was wearing my cloak. We greeted each other and went inside from the back showing that Vinyl had a coltfriend we were allowed entrance and soon I was handed some things you'd see a dj have, some headphones, and a few glow sticks. "Hey, what are these for?" I asked and looked towards Vinyl. "Oh yeah, kinda forgot to mention, you'll have to preform with me, hehe." Vinyl then rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "What!" I shouted a bit angry. "That was not part of what you told me at my house!" "Listen it was a last minute change, just follow my lead and you'll be fine." She smiled and looked at me with her always confident look, I sighed and nodded. We soon walked out to the stage thing and got everything ready, soon enough ponies started pouring in and the music was started. Vinyl tapped me and motioned for me to copy what she did. Soon enough I was getting into the groove of things, spinning the discs, tossing the glow sticks, and having a great time, I always got a hang of things quickly, and this was no exception. Vinyl then looked to somepony offstage I wasn't paying attention but soon then Vinyl pushed me onto the setup. "Whoa Vinyl what the-" I started but I was soon cut off by Vinyl flipping me around and planting a huge kiss on me. I heard the crowd go wild at that, so I figured it was all just for show, I let her do what she needed for the gig. But her muzzle was soft, I felt myself almost dying cause of how good it was. She poked at my muzzle with her tongue and I knew what she wanted somehow. I opened up my mouth and I felt her tongue intertwine with mine, my eyes slowly started to close and when the did I felt myself kissing back. In our embrace and kiss, I kept hearing ponies egging us on to do more than just make out, but neither of us went more, we just finished making out and stared at each other blushing. "W-Wow." I said a bit love drunk. "Come on, just two more hours and we're finished with the gig." Vinyl looked at me, I then shook my head to get me into reality and nodded. "Then let's go." I woke up the next day with a pounding in my head and a weird taste in my mouth. "What happened last night?" I said aloud to myself I sat up from where I was laying down and saw that somepony was sleeping next to me. "Hey wake up, what happened last night?" I asked them while giving them a light shake. "Shut up Light." Vinyl said as she sat up as well, I jumped a small bit when I saw that it was her. "Wanna know what happened last night?" She asked and I nodded. "We got out of control with the make out session and well I kinda tossed you off the stage into the crowd you were having fun, till you were dropped and hit your head." Vinyl yawned and stretched. "After the gig I picked you up and carried you home, I was tired so I decided to stay the night." "Oh, that's all?" I asked and she nodded. "Well atleast nothing bad happened. "And I didn't have to go tho the hospital too, so that's a win." "Yeah, well i'll keep my promise, I'll try not to hurt you for three weeks." "Thanks Vinyl, it means a lot to me." She blushed after I said that. "Yeah no problem, also one more thing." "What is it?" I asked a bit confused. "We're breaking up." I chuckled a small bit and she gave a light laugh. "Okay, well it's a mutual break up then." I smiled and got out of my bed to go to the kitchen for something to eat.