//------------------------------// // Laws, Politics, And A Show For A Human // Story: The Human And The Well // by Zandar13 //------------------------------// “And here I am! Welcome one and all to my fair and wonderful city of MANEHATTEN!” shouted a little rounded earth-stallion wearing a tuxedo and a top hat that seemed to be a bit taller than normal. ‘Well, that didn’t last long’ I thought to myself after getting everyone riled up. “S-s-sir! I didn’t expect to see you so soon! Your secretary said you were still busy” Thunder said. “I was, for the most part, but they were all just normal day-to-day things that I can easily deal with at a later date. Something of this…. magnitude should not be left to chance!” said who I am assuming is the mayor. “Well, that is certainly reassuring” Trixie silently scowled to herself. “MAYOR MANEHATTEN! THERE YOU ARE!” shouted another stallion who almost seemed to turn into mist as they ducked, dodged, and weaved around everything and everyone to get to us in the blink of an eye. I bet this is the secretary. Once he got closer, he was almost opposite to the mayor. A unicorn who was skinny as a twig and almost twice as tall. He almost rivaled Fleur in both aspects, and she is a professional model. But she made it look good. “Ah! Lace Hatten! My boy! I was wondering where you wandered off to!” the mayor happily exclaimed to the new addition. “Sir, I told you to just call me Hatten. You know how much I dislike my first name. Thank you again mother” Hatten annoyingly said. “Ha ha! Forgive me Hatten, I was just excited!” the mayor jollily said. “You nearly gave me a heart attack! We were about to leave when I had to sign off on two things of paperwork, one a housing deal and another about a new business that sprung up overnight. When I turned around, you were gone!” Hatten stated. “Ha ha! Sorry again Hatten. But with this kind of thing, I had to focus all my attention and you know how I easily I get sidetracked. This is almost a once in a lifetime event! I had to do something!” the mayor boasted rather loudly. Trixie tugged at my legs, so I bent all the way down and she whispered “Doesn’t help that he is up for re-election this year” “Now then, I am presuming that you…..strange one, are Adrian Frost? Our guest of honor!” the mayor said as he hopped closer, his secretary always one step behind. Like a shadow. “Yes, that is me. But the true guest’s of honor are everypony else here, looking for a home and a way of life to live in your city. Hopefully” I explained with a smile as I stuck out my hand. “Ah, well said! Well said!” the mayor happily exclaimed as he shook my hand. “And excellent for the press as well” Hatten said who used his magic to write something down in his notebook. “Now! Before we head to my office, how about I get you all something to eat! My treat!” the mayor presented. A chorus of cheers and huzzahs was heard and all previous thoughts of not needing food were gone. Funny. “Now if that isn’t a consensus then I don’t know what is! Follow me everypony! Oh! Quickly! On our right, this building was built in-” the mayor started to say, lost in his own world now. “And a tour, good. Good” I heard Hatten mumble to himself while writing something down again while he caught up. “Hmph. I wonder who will be on the front page of the newspaper tomorrow. Him or us” Trixie sarcastically said. “Are you alright Trixie? I can understand the grumpiness from before, but now your even more defensive” I asked. “-We concur Trixie, you do appear to be agitated-” Devi said. “You don’t know this city like I do, nothing but business business business. If something isn’t making profit, then nopony cares. The mayor is only giving us the time of day since it will give him good publicity, heck this could be turned into some sort of rally. Celestia knows what else this could turn into” Trixie said with a pout. “-While we try to keep on open mind for you Master, we have to agree with her. This situation can be very dangerous-” Devi said. “Ugh, hate politics and all that nasty stuff. Hmmmm….how about this. Devia, you tag alongside the mayor and keep tabs on everything. You have a better memory and can keep an eye out for anything…..weird or suspicous. Be nice though” I suggested. “-Most excellent thinking my Master! Always one step ahead!-” Deva said before they set off. “Good thinking” Trixie mumbled. “Oh come here you” I said just before I picked up the grumpy mare and gave her a little hug. “Put me down you big buffoon! I never asked for a hug!” she said as she dangled in my arms. “Cheer up! Sure, we may be involved with some silly stuff but I firmly believe that everything will turn out alright. Even if this thing turns on its head, I doubt the Mayor will just turn a blind eye to a group this large. Especially after hearing all the trouble Thunder and this Coco Pommel went through” I said. “We suppose” Trixie said. “Cause Papa good! Papa good!” Maelstrom happily said as she bounced on my head while playing with my hair, again. Another knot or two for later, yay for long hair. “Has she grown bigger?” Thunder suddenly said. “O-oh! Yes, yes she did. I’m not one hundred percent the reason why, but her growth seems to be tied with her state of being and probably her chaos magic, along with whatever I have inside of me that was passed down to her. So, basically, I have no real idea” I explained with a laugh. “Lucky you!” Thunder said back with a laugh of his own. “Oh yes, lucky lucky lucky. Say, speaking of luck, do you think we will be able to meet this Coco Pommel who helped you out? I would like to meet her and thank her” I asked. “I hope so! She is quite a busy mare and she has a big time job that always keeps her busy. But she gave me a way to contact her, so I will get in touch with her and tell her everything” Thunder explained. “Sounds good, now lets catch up with our group. Don’t want to get lost already” I said. With a nod of their heads, we tried to catch up as quickly as possible and with a little weaving of our own and after waiting for two lights to change, we finally made our way back to the tour. By the looks of things, the mayor and Hatten didn’t even notice our absence. “-and this particular building was where the Hattens first laid their original groundwork for their first shop! Though it has been demolished and rebuilt many times since then, as is the way of things. Isn’t that right Hatten?” the mayor asked. “Yes sir, as I should know since they are my family after all” Hatten groaned as he continued to write in his notebook. “That is right! I don’t know if you know, but the Hatten family was the first family to help donate money and effort to making Hatten Bridge! The one you came in on! So his family and my own are closely tied to the true roots of this great city of Manehatten! And now, our generation will once again be apart of something big by helping you all fine folk. A similar event hasn’t taken place since the founding of Equestria!” the mayor boasted again while Hatten hastily wrote it down. “I don’t mean to interrupt sir, but I believe that we have arrived” Hatten said. “Already? Goodness! Time flies when you are having fun! And we just barely scratched the surface of this city!” his stomach started to growl “But food is calling! And I can’t just say no! Ha ha!” he happily said before he entered the restaurant. “Good evening Mayor! I haven’t seen you in these parts for a while! How can we help you on this fine day?” said the waitress, a pegasus mare with green fur and a dark blue mane. “Well, today I am here to not only eat your fine food but I am also buying lunch for all these homeless ponies who walked all the way from New Leafton, which lies at the other end of the Everfree Forest! And I am here to help!” the mayor said. “-Who was led here by our kind and generous leader, Adrian Frost. The only known human in all of Equestria-” Devi interjected. “A human? What is that?” the mare asked. “That would be me and what my species is called” I said as I stepped forward. Well, bent down to fit through the doorway first then stepped forward. “Wow…..you certainly are a big one!” she exclaimed as she eyed me up and down. By this time, I had actually gotten the entire restaurants attention far faster than the mayor did. “Heh, I get that a lot. Do you have enough to seat all of us? I would hate to impose” I politely asked. “We certainly do! We will have to grab some extra chairs and table from the back first, but we do have room!” she said. “Excellent! While we wait, could we get some menus to look at while we wait?” the mayor asked. “Sure thing!” she said while the other staff got busy moving. Wonder how Manehatten food tastes? Hopefully Canterlot and the Crystal Empire haven’t spoiled my taste buds to much. Then again, I have been eating forest scraps and whatever else we could find on the road. I should be fine. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ 1 ½ Hours Later -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Wow. Good thing and bad thing. It was good cause it reminded me of food back home! Bad, only because everything was greasy and oily. Still pretty good eat though. And of course, when the bill came the Mayor paid for everything and gave a generous tip and got a move on to give another tour while we made our way to his office. Though he already tipped, I secretly walked up the our waitress, named Lilac Dewdrop, and gave her a few bits just for her. She blushed a little but thanked me with a pretty smile and wished me good luck. This time, we were able to hear most of the tour, though it was all strangely focused around what the name Manehatten has done for this building or how a previous mayor did that for another. But other than the self propaganda, the tour was very informative and he did point out important places like the post office, legal offices, hospitals, dental, and etc. We even got to see their ‘famous’ theater, Roaring Lion Studio, and according to Thunder is where Coco Pommel works at most of the time. “And there she is, the beautifully marbled city hall!” the mayor said as he showcased the hall, it almost seemed out of place. Like someone plucked it out of Canterlot and placed it here. But it was certainly nice and a stark contrast from the rest, certainly a beacon to everyone that someone important dwells here. “Come inside, come inside! I won’t let you all sit outside and wait while we sort everything out! Adrian, I assume you are the pony in charge. Correct?” he asked me. “Yes, yes I am. Alongside my companions Devia and Trixie, also my daughter Maelstorm here and my canine companion Artemis” I introduced. “Trixie? Trixie. Why does that name ring a bell?” the mayor pondered out loud. “She was the mare who caused that little ruckus a while back while trying to get her cart back that she sold” Hatten declared. “I did not! I was swindled and you know it!” Trixie suddenly said with that outburst. “Tut tut! Now is not that time for old news, we have much more important things to do! Step inside my office and lets talk” the mayor said, but this time he seemed a bit more…..straight forward then usual. The seven of us stepped inside the mayors office and found it very expansive and littered with paperwork while the walls were covered with various pictures and newspaper articles, along with various other gifts or items. Hatten silently closed the door until we all heard the audible metal click of them coming together, which sent a shiver of bad news down my spine. “Sit down, please” Hatten said behind us. Devia, Trixie, and myself sat on the thankfully huge couch while Maelstrom and Artemis played behind us. “Comfortable? Good, cause this will take a while” the mayor asked as he positioned himself on his large padded chair. “Now, let’s talk business” “Business? I’m not here to trade you know?” I curiously asked. “Oh, but you are….human. This is no charity and everything has a price” Hatten said as he circled around us to stand by the mayor. At this, I heard Trixie click her tongue but it went by ignored. “What Hatten means to say is, I, the mayor of Manehatten, will of course do his best to sort them out. But as I said earlier, this sort of thing on a scale so huge has not happened since the founding of Equestria. Many rules, laws, and procedures have taken hold since then and as such, even for a good cause, it cannot be easily dealt with” “Money is the currency of the realm, bits shall take you everywhere here in Manehatten and bits are always honest. Food, shelter, trust, those and other things all cost money and as Hatten said: This is no charity” the mayor honestly said with a solemn look in his eye. “Of course, we are not so heartless, stupid, and ignorant as to ask for a large sum of bits up front of course. That would become a bit to cliché of those old dramas and stories the theater loves to perform. We are more than willing to work with you all to find an agreement to come to. We can even set up a new charity to help provide income! It will look great for you as well as me!” the mayor said with enthusiasm. I could not help but clench my fist in anger for a second as I bored a hole through the mayors head with my staring. I figured something like would happen but not to this extent! This rotten mayor is acting like some sort of loan shark! Heck, these ponies under me could become akin to slaves to this pony! Gah, but I do understand the general thinking behind it. It would be unfair to just ask and magically receive food, clothing, and shelter at next to nothing. But still, I find his attitude towards this unsettling and very dickish. All he cares about is himself and how this will make him look good in the public’s eye. Hah, even though he doesn’t want to become a cliché, he has already become one in my eye. “So, what do you suggest then? We work ourselves to bone, scrapping together any and all bits that we can just to barely make your collection? All the while you get all the glory and fame for being the hero of the city for ‘providing’ your helpful service to us?” I asked. “Well, maybe not in those exact words but I think that would do just nicely. After all, with my approval you can do anything, so long as I get some sort of credit” the mayor said with a shady smile. “I suppose we have no choice, but I do demand that you provide us with housing. Even if it is just one house with an address. They also need all the necessary paperwork for holding jobs, living, and anything else needed that a normal pony would need. All under your approval of course, so no one can deny them or accuse them of forgery” I firmly told them. “That can be arranged, there are always houses coming and going. Bankrupt, moving up, moving down, or just plain moving, you name it. I can find you a large house and talk to the owner about reducing the pay until I deem you all stable. As for work, I can’t say that you all will get glorious jobs, but I can say that plenty of simple jobs are always available” “See? Now wasn’t that simple? Now I just need a list of names for them all, and we can get the paperwork started. Shouldn’t take more than a day and a half, maybe even less if I can get a hold of the right ponies. How many are in your party?” the mayor finally asked. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves a little before answering “Thirty two, which includes me as well. I actually have a list of names already, so you can copy that to make things go a little faster” and with that I dug into my bag and dug out said list and handed it over. “Now that is a smart move on your part and-” the mayors horn glowed for a few seconds and I saw a second piece of paper poof on his desk before he floated my original paper back to me “-done! Hatten, can you get started on the house. Then come back here and start making profiles for everypony, if they don’t have one” he said. “Yes sir” Hatten said before hurrying out the door, closing it behind him. “And there we have it! The ball is now in motion and all we have to do is let things fall in place. Until whenever the house is available, I do no mind hosting everypony for the night and providing food. In fact, there is something special happening in my fair city tonight! If you wish to stick around then go ahead, but if not then meet us at The Square at seven o’ clock tonight. You can’t miss it” the mayor offered. I gladly accepted his offer and did some paperwork for him before I walked out and informed everyone what was going on. I left out all the ‘political’ talk and simply told them the mayor was giving us food, shelter, and the possibility of jobs and such. Even though I was still mad about his true intentions, I lightened up quite a bit when I saw them all plaster smiles on their faces, some even started crying happy tears. I guess, with all things considered, this is all good news. Sure it may not have gone like in the stories or anything and it all didn’t magically get solved, but I got them here and they are on their way to living a better life. I defiantly felt the happiness when a few ponies tackle hugged me, tears streaming while they thanked me, well more like blubbering at this point, but I hugged them all back and got into a great mood. Once all the thanks were given, I told them about the mystery event tonight and asked if any wanted to walk around the city or wait here for tonight. Almost all of them elected to stay and relax and settle in a bit, mostly due to the loud city noise outside. The only two who wanted to come with me was Cloudhoof and Barnes, my two pegasus guards. Heh, saying it like that makes me sound like a noble or something. My guards! Muah! And of course, the Great and Glorious Trixie will still be tagging along. So that makes those three in addition to Maelstrom, Devia, and Artemis for my group. We said our goodbyes for now and opened the big doors out to the big city. I still can’t believe how this place looks so closely similar to New York, and here I am. Wait…… UGH! I am the New York giant now, well the Manehatten giant but still. Moving on. I took a right and just started walking, touring the city with my eyes while the others gazed up in wonder at the super tall buildings, the busy streets, ponies running everywhere, Maelstrom clinged to my hair a little bit and I even heard Maelstrom give a warning growl once or twice. But we certainly had a little bit of leeway because the ponies of Manehatten were staring at me and veered out of the way, some out of fear and some simply because they were not watching where they were walking. It’s been a while since I saw this, it was actually kinda funny now. But still, I always made sure to smile and gave a wave of my hand. One little filly actually waved back before catching back up to her school group, I am assuming. So we walked around for about an hour to much similar affect to our surroundings, we walked around while I almost seemed to be paraded around as a giant float or something. But no one came up to talk to us or be inquisitive about who I am. Then again, big city such as this probably has different rules and customs. That or they are simply adhering to the ‘don’t talk to strangers’ thing. That is, until when we walked around a corner and I saw another big building, well more like medium sized if we are looking at the surrounding towers, in the middle of a green courtyard with a big sign reading ‘Manehatten Square School’. Wow, it was a very nice building! It kinda reminds me of one of those schools that house multiple grades, like sixth through twelfth. Hmmm, I wonder if they have multiple grades here in Equestria? “Look! Look! There he is! I told you I wasn’t lying!” shouted a filly. Looking in more, I saw the same filly I waved at earlier in front of a large crowd of foals and I am assuming their teacher, a stallion with a light gray suit. A stampede followed as all the little ones charged right at me, big smiles on their faces. “Calm down everypony! Calm down!” shouted the stallion in a vain attempt to control them. More like a colossal failure, if this was a cartoon they would of probably trampled over him. Soon enough I had a gathering in front of me full of big eyes, filled with wonder as they stared at me. “Ahem. My deepest apologies sir, they are usually more well behaved then that” the stallion said as he dusted himself off. “My name is Gray Stubbs, and I am their teacher. We were taking a little field trip to a printing factory and on our way back Lily Vines started talking about some tall, strange looking creature walking around. So when they all saw you, well, you know the rest” he explained. “No worries, I am kinda used to it. Just glad I didn’t scare you all” I said while looking down. “Jeepers mister, you’re tall!” said a colt. “And your mane is super long and really pretty!” “Look! His eyes! His eyes!” “Oh yeah! Awesome!” “And look at what he is wearing!” “What are those?” “Wow, he is soooooo tall!” I couldn’t help but laugh a little at their reactions before I bent down on one knee and held my hand out for them to swarm around it, prodding and poking. It was quite silly to watch them bend my fingers and being amazed. “Look at that boss, you are really popular!” Barnes commented as she giggled while floating behind me. “Well I am a walking showpiece after all, being the only one of my kind on a planet full of ponies and such” I said to her. That was when I felt a couple of hoofs push harder against my palm, looking back I saw a couple of them looking up at me sadly. “You are all alone?” one said. “Yes and no. I am the only human in Equestria, but I have a lot of friends. Even now” I said while I gestured behind me. “And I even have a daughter as well! Right here” now pointing to the fluff in my hair. “She is your daughter?!?” a different filly said. “Sure is! Long story though, and kinda weird and complicated. Grown up stuff” I smirked while I gently rubbed her head. “Boo!” a colt said which got most of them to laugh. “Alright, alright. I think I have kept you all long enough away from school. I don’t wanna cause any trouble” I said to a now disappointed looking group. “At the very least, it will keep them from properly studying….again” Gray Stubbs said with a knowing look. “Uh oh, sounds like extra homework” I replied. “Hey! No fair!” a filly whined. “Heh heh. Only if you all don’t get back to class pronto! Come on, let’s go. Say goodbye to….” Stubbs started to say. “Oops! My bad, my name is Adrian. Adrian Frost” I introduced with a wave of my hand. All at once, the whole class gathered back and in one voice shouted “BYE MISTER ADRIAN!” just before running away and laughing. Stubbs shook his head with a small smile before he nodded at me and rejoined his students. “Well, that was a nice little detour” Cloudhoof commented. “Defiantly! I love little colts and fillies, they are so adorable!” Barnes replied. “Hmph. They can be little leeches at times” Trixie grumpily said. “Uh oh, sounds like we got a little grumpy cape” Barnes said back to the magician. “Why I never!” Trixie said to the now smug flyer. “Come on, we got more city to explore!” I said and started leading, which got the others follow. It was about another good hour or so before we stopped somewhere to get a bite to eat, no meat for me this time but I kept some fish for Artemis and Maelstrom in my bag. Thank goodness it is so huge thanks to magic, or else I would look like a backpacker traveling across Europe. So after eating, we came upon a huge building that had a golden lion protruding out top. Looks like we ended up back in front of the theater. “Excuse me! Excuse me!” I heard a voice call out. Looking around, I didn’t see anyone stand out or look like they just talked. “Over here!” they yelled out again. But once more, I didn’t see the voice in the sea of rushing ponies. “Oof! Sorry, sorry! There we go” I heard them say and finally I saw a mare pop out of the rush in front of us. She had a two-toned blue mane, wearing a collar and red tie. She had a big smile as she trotted up to us. “Hello there! I didn’t know you were coming here! I would have been slightly more prepared” “No worries, we were just wandering around, checking the city out” I told her. “Becoming a hot topic at school” Barnes joked while she nudged my shoulder. “Har har Barnes, har har” I sarcasticly said back. Looking back at the mare who seemed to be beaming, I asked “So, how do you know about us? Or me?” “OH! My goodness! I suppose you wouldn’t know, silly me. My name is Coco Pommel, I was the one who helped out Thunder Rose! I knew I had to take this opportunity to help, it seemed only right after all the kindness and generosity I was shown myself which led me to working here! Rarity really saved me” Coco said with a kind smile. “Oh? So Rarity helped you? I could definitely see Rarity wanting to be in a place like this, especially for her business” I said. “You know Rarity as well?! Small world! But we can talk about that later, I want you to meet somepony! Or well, re-introduce you since they know you pretty well already” Coco said as she grabbed my pant leg and tried to pull me in some direction. So I ended up following her, almost easier said than done with this crowd of ponies but I could always tell where she was since her mane stuck out the most. I am surprised that no one really paid me any attention though, they all just darted around me as they went about their day. Guess rush hour is the same in any world. We finally got up to the front where a small line of ponies were waiting to buy tickets for something called ‘The Power Of One’, some sort of show and one I don’t recognize. Must be an Equestrian original! Coco opened the door for us and waited until we all made it through before re-guiding us around the new crowd who definitely noticed me this time. But instead of confusion or anything, they seemed excited and some even started taking pictures. “Wow! Miss Pommel! Miss Pommel! Is that a costume or a prop for an upcoming production?” said a random stallion. “Nope! This is a genuine living being called a human! I think I said that right?” she asked me. “Correct! My name is Adrian Frost everyone, nice to meet you” I said and offered a wave. Two seconds later I was blinded by at least a dozen camera flashes going off at once, quickly followed by a small avalanche of questions of the usual ‘Where did you come from’ ‘What exactly is a hiumon’ ‘Do you like cheese’…. Ok that last one was a bit unusual, but still. But before I had a chance to answer, Coco stepped in “Later everypony, later. We have a tight schedule to keep to. But I am sure you will all get your answers later” she said and that seemed to get most of the crowd to disperse which got us moving again to the back. “So, where exactly are we heading to Miss Pommel?” Barnes asked. “We are heading backstage! Our surprise guest wanted to wait in the back” Coco replied. ‘-And you are quite certain that they are on friendly terms with our Master?-” Devi asked which almost seemed to spook Coco. “Yes, I do believe so” Coco replied again. Leading us further and further in, we finally entered through a door clearly labeled as ‘BACKSTAGE – NO ENTRY’ and saw plenty of ponies running around, some half-dressed, some practicing lines, and some just hanging out. Once again, we played the swirl and twirl game of getting around them all just to finally end up in front of another door, this time saying ‘Actors Room – Twirl Linen’. Coco knocked three times before a voice answered “Who is it?” “It’s me, Coco Pommel sir! I have some guests for your guest!” Coco explained which got a tiny giggle out of her. “Heh, alright. Give me a few seconds to wrap up and they can use my room to talk. I’ll be up on stage for probably a half hour” the stallion voice told her. “Yes sir!” Coco said. She turned around to us “That is Twirl Linen, he is one of our most famous actors! He can sing, dance, and has even helped us out backstage with props! It is such an honor to be helping him during this production!” she ended by quickly sitting down and used her front two hooves to excitingly clap to herself. I say about a minute later the door finally creaked open and out came a fancily dressed stallion with what seemed like a wig over his mane, a fancy red colored old-fashioned suit with a large tail that almost looked like a half cloak, and four shiny black boots. “Good evening every filly and gentlecolt! And- whoa!” he suddenly stopped as he gazed up at me. “Gracious! You are certainly a big one! Taller than any minotaur I’ve ever seen! Drats, would love to get to know you but the stage beckons and I must answer! To the stage!” Twirl said before dashing off, his boots echoing for just a second. “Come on in, don’t be shy now” said a familiar voice which got me super excited! So I lead the charge as I swung open the door and sitting there was Spitfire! Oh my goodness! “SPITFIRE!” I merrily shouted as I ran up to her with a big smile on my face. She seemed surprised at first but once she saw who it was, her face was also adorned with a smile. “Kid!” she simply said before she took to the air and we gave each other a hug. It was so nice to see her again! “Oh my Celestia kid, what in the world are you doing here?” “Heh, long story which I will gladly tell in a second. Wow! It is so awesome to see you again, last time was after that whole Cascades shenanigans. Wait! Wait, wait, wait. Am I in time to see your guys show?!?” I excitingly asked her. “You sure are kid! Lucky you!” she replied with a smirk and quickly ruffled my hair. “Y-yo-you k-k-know Spa….Speee...Spitfire?” Both Barnes and Cloudhoof said together. “Sure does, me and this tall hunk shared a small adventure together. Well, only after he bravely sacrificed himself to save Fleetfoot. The big hero” Spitfire proudly declared. “Come on, your making me sound like something straight out of a novel” I said with a tiny hint of a blush on my face. “Well, we always knew that he was great. He would have to be in order to travel around the Great and Wondrous Trixie!” said mare struck a pose. “Oh! Your an actor too?” Coco innocently asked which made Trixie pout a little. “Seems like you got some new ponies following you around as well I see” Spitfire said as she hovered right next to me, one leg leaning on my shoulder. “Sure do. The one in blue is Trixie, she is a traveling magician who used to be in Ponyville for a spell” I stopped to chuckle at that one, only to make Trixie pout even more “Then the stallion up there is Cloudhoof and the mare next to him is Barnes. Oh! And the pony with the orange mane and black tail is Devia, they are another long story” I introduced. “Well, pleasure to meet all of you. Names Spitfire, Captain of The Wonderbolts. Though I guessing most of you knew that already” she said with that same smirk as she mostly stared at the two slack-jawed pegasi. Barnes was the first to recover as she quickly flew over to Spitfire, “It’s an honor to meet you! I-I-I never would of dreamed that I would get to talk to you! Oh boss! You are such a miracle worker!” she said before slamming into me for a hug. I just chuckled as I used one arm to hug her back while a certain mare laughed as well. “Careful there, that stallion is already taken. Right kid?” Spitfire replied but her smile went away when she saw the forlorn look on my face when I realized that Spitfire doesn’t know anything about why I left Ponyville. “Kid? What happened?” I let Barnes go as I took a deep sigh and felt my emotions build up a little, it has been a while since I talked out loud about my anger that day and about Derpy. I felt Maelstrom plop on my head as well as I few vain attempts of her trying to kiss my head through all my hair. “I won’t go into full detail right now, it is still kinda painful to talk about in the open. But, basically, I ended up leaving Ponyville to go and explore the world and try to find myself, where I belong, and a general purpose. And I couldn’t ask Derpy to just leave everything behind just to come on this selfish quest with me. So we had a….. deep, deep talk and we decided that we should….split up” I ended with a sad sigh and I felt my bottom lip quiver for just a second. “Oh kid, I’m so sorry. I had no idea” Spitfire said as she gently placed both hooves on my shoulder. “It’s alright, you didn’t know. You were just trying to be smug, as always” I retorted with a smirk of my own. At this she smacked my shoulder a bit, which got the two of us to laugh. “Ya big knuckle head” she quickly said before giving me a quick little hug “Sorry to hear about that kid. Maybe one day you two will be back together. I thought the two of you were a smart choice for each other” “Yeah, one day. One day” I said with a blank tone. After a few heavy seconds of silence, I shook my head and let out a light laugh “But anyway, it is still awesome that I arrived here just in time to see your show!” “Lucky you! And, of course, you are free to enter of course. Our big V.I.P!” Spitfire replied. “AND A V.I.P?!” Barnes had a look of absolute bliss on her face. “You are the best boss” “Yeah, well the show will be the perfect distraction from all that political BS from earlier” I grumpily said with a slightly nasty look on my face. “Uh oh, now that is something I have to hear. Find a place to squat on down and tell me, we have some time and I’m not going anywhere until my show” Spitfire instructed. Finding it best to just literally squat down and sit cross-legged, I did while everyone else found something else to sit on. My head also being one as well, for a certain cute and adorable little girl. Just before I took a deep breath to recount the tale, I just remembered something very important. “Hey, Devia? Can you perfectly recall everything that transpired in the mayors office?” I asked. “-Yes Master! We followed your instructions to the letter! Would you like us to replay it? We can only do audio though, our cortex visualizers still need some work-” Devo replied. “That will be more than enough, if you would please” I politely asked again. “-Would be our honor to be of assistance to you, Master-” Devo said before I heard a fan or two start to whirl and I saw their jaw drop down, then I heard the Mayors voice casually come out of Devias mouth. Wow! I had just expected them to simply repeat it! But they actually recorded it, score! The recording started just as we entered City Hall when the Mayor introduced us to his ‘beautifully marbled city hall’ and then proceeded to showcase our entire conversation. Which made me want to spit in disgust all over again, and I almost thought Trixie was going to go into a self-monologued rampage, but Barnes simply laid her hoof on her and shook her head. The recording finally ended after we left City Hall, and with that Devia audio slowly died down before they returned to normal. The silence in the air was so thick you can almost choke on it and I could see a huge scowl being born on Spitfires face. I was going to say something before Spitfire took to the air and shouted to herself “BUCKING HORSEAPPLES TO THOSE CELESTIA BE DAMNED FOOLS! THEY CAN KISS MY FLANK UNTIL BLUE IN THE MOUTH! GAH!” Thankfully I quickly covered up Maelstroms ears, don’t need her growing up too fast and learning to pony swear. Although she probably heard me when I went on my on little rampage back in Ponyville. Buck. Spitfire had to take some deep, deep breaths to finally calm down just before landing back in her spot and coughed to clear her throat. “Sorry about that everypony, that was….. unprofessional of me. But something like this hits very close to home for me. I won’t go into it now since that is ancient history but this! This is now and we are going to deal with this” “Whoa, whoa, whoa there! You don’t need to do that Spitfire, I mean sure it sucks but at the moment going along with flow is the best solution for all those ponies back in City Hall. I don’t want to rock the boat with unnecessary waves” I said. “-Oh! Good analogy Master! We will make a mental note of that-” Devo quickly interjected. “Analogy aside, I do need to do something. I will not stand by and let some filthy, bit grabbing fool of a mayor get away with this underhoofed scheme! My personal pride and the true nature of a Wonderbolt will not allow it!” Spitfire said with confidence and determination. “But….. what can you do about it, Miss Spitfire?” Cloudhoof quietly and nervously asked. Instead of looking angry or offended at the insinuation of the question, the leader of the Wonderbolts simply gave him her usually smirk before looking up at me “Don’t worry kid, I think I have a plan that will do the trick. Do you know what that event at The Square tonight is?” “I have no idea, the Mayor simply said to meet there at seven tonight. Why? Are we gonna crash it or do something straight out of a play?” I said. “No need to crash it, we are the ones performing after all” she said with a smug. “OH MY GOSH! The event tonight is a Wonderbolts performance?!?” Barnes said with a squeaky, excited voice. “Darn right it is! Now I gotta fly kid, I need to talk to a couple of ponies in order to set things up tonight. Head to the Square a little early tonight and meet back up with me and I will tell you exactly what the plan is. Until then, enjoy the rest of the city” Spitfire said with a nod of her head and almost broke the door on her way out. “B-b-boss…… do you know what this means?” Barnes asked. “No? What?” I curiously asked of her. “This means…… this means that WE GET TO SEE A WONDERBOLTS SHOW ON OUR FIRST NIGHT IN MANEHATTEN! SQUEEE!” she yelled before crushing me with another hug. “I will follow you forever boss, you are my good luck charm!” I felt a little blush on my cheeks but I chuckled it off just as she flew back up to Cloodhoof and the two began chatting away. “Good gracious! What in Bridleway was that all about?” I heard Linen say as he slowly trotted into his room. “Sorry about that Linen, but something important came up and she wanted to get right on top of things as fast as possible” I briefly explained. “Well, must be important for her to get so work up about it. But I am not worried though, with her on the job then I know that whatever it is, will be done and be done right. Now I hate to have to kick you all out, but I need to change costumes and makeup for my next scene. Be sure to drop by the Theater and see my show! It will be on for quite some time!” he said before gently closing the door behind us. “Well, that was certainly more that what I was expecting! But unfortunately, I need to be getting back to work as well. So follow me, you can get out this way” Coco said while she lead us through a few back areas, to avoid any big crowd and out to the front. “If you want, you can head down this way and see what we call “Old Town”. It’s full of shops and stalls from the very beginning of Manehatten! I love going down there and seeing all the antiques and old way of doing things” “But I would avoid going south of Cloften street, because after that you might accidentally wander into….. the uh….. dark side of town, if you catch my meaning” she warned us with a red face. “Ah, I think I get it. Will avoid then, thank you for warning us. Well, we will get out of your mane then. Thank you so much for everything Coco, I am happy that there is such a nice mare in Manehatten” I said with smile. This got Coco to beam and I even saw her tail wag a little. “No, no! Thank you for being so brave and selfless! I just hope everything turns out alright! See you around!” Coco bid us farewell before going back inside. I stood there on the sidewalk, breathing in the city air when I saw Spitfire zooming somewhere else above us. Gaining quite a few looks from the ponies still in line and of course a camera flash or two. “I wonder what is going to happen at the show tonight?”