//------------------------------//
// Manehatten 
// Story: I'm Still Here 
// by Ribe_FireRain 
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The weather was overcast over the skies of the suburban city of Manehatten, The Big Apple of Equestria, a city known for its noisy, busy and restless streets, running as rampant as an enraged bull. Stark business owners, stiff-lipped market stall ponies and generally corrupt and sharp, hoity-toity civilians all made up this grand city, and they all thrived around the rich cultural heritage of its big league performing arts, entertainment and fashion districts.

There was a low grumble of thunder that gave way to a light vibration through the rocky ground, followed by a light pitter-patter of rain, little beads of glass-like coldness. It was due to rain for the next couple of days in the big city, and most ponies were likely to spend the rest of their time inside their homes for the duration of it while they wait it out. Those who dared to enter the pouring rain as it gradually began to worsen were mostly bar patrons, theatre snobs and art gallery enthusiasts looking for a more productive and sophisticated way to wait out the storm.

Outside of those groups of select Manehattenites were a pair of ponies living inside of a dainty, run-down apartment complex window nearest to the top of the building. From this far up from the ground, they were nearly scraping the gunmetal-coloured sky, getting a front row seat to the rainstorm that was sure to rock the city within the hour. The vibrations from the nearing thunder were so vigorous that the thin window panes in their frames were barely clinging on for dear life, rattling and clanking where they rested.

From somewhere outside, the voices of taxi driver ponies were heard shouting, calling out against the rain, refusing to give in in spite of the weather. That was the Manehattenite way - strength in numbers and a stubbornness that knew no rival.

‘’Look at those ponies down there,’’ The first pony said, a stallion, staring down through the dirt-covered window of the almost-bare apartment. ‘’Fools, the lot of ‘em,’’ He grumbled.

‘’I told you that we should have moved to Fillydelphia! Even Las Pegasus would have been nice! Don’t you think I’d like to be over there, playing slots and having a ball?’’ The second pony, a mare asked in an annoyed tone. Her husband turned on her, giving her the stink eye.

‘’Can it, Silver Star!’’ He barked. ‘’You know that we didn’t have enough money to make it that far, and even if we did, what makes you think that I’d go to somewhere as flashy as Las Pegasus?’’ He gave her a snarl, and she bit her lip.

‘’Well, it’d still be better than here!’’ She retorted. ‘’And it’d be better than listening to you moan…’’ She added that last part quietly.

‘’What was that?!’’ Her husband snapped.

‘’Um, n-nothing!’’ She quickly said innocently, blushing. ‘’But why did you bring us here, Hardy?’’

‘’Because it’s as far away from Ponyville as we could afford to go! And it’s as far as we can get from that little runt,’’ Hardy Wetwool grumbled bitterly. ‘’For three Celestia-damn years, I’ve worked to earn a promotion that’ll earn us some more money, and I bought us that little house on the edge of Ponyville! But what good was it, Silver Star, huh? It did nothing but cause us more and more problems than we knew how to handle, and then you had to get yourself pregnant, didn’t you?’’

Silver Star was sitting in a bug-ridden chair covered with holes and ripped, discoloured upholstery in the corner of the apartment. It was only a one-bedroom and one living room deal, and the meant that there was nowhere to hide whenever her husband was like this. She knew how to hold her own in an argument, but Hardy was tougher and bigger than her, so taking a fighting stance was all the more difficult.

She gave him a sour, hurt expression, grinding her teeth at him. She hated it when he spoke to her like this. Silver Star didn’t even want to be here with this retch, she would have rather taken her chances running through the Tar Swamps on the other side of Equestria nearer to Saddle Arabia. Being in the same room as her obnoxious husband was cluttering up her mind.

‘’Excuuuuuse me?’’ She asked with distaste. ‘’Did you suddenly forget who you’re talking to, Wooly? I’m your wife!’’ She glared at him, and she ground her teeth harshly, about ready to defenestrate him and leave him for the rats to chew on. ‘’And I never wanted to leave Ponyville! We abandoned our daughter, Hardy, our only daughter! And what for? A better life?’’

‘’That little runt was your doing, not mine! If you hadn’t let yourself get pregnant, then we wouldn’t be here fighting for our lives!’’ Hardy growled at her, and he took a heavy-hoofed step towards her, at about the same time that a loud roar of thunder sounded. It made Silver Star flinch, but she still held a solid glare.

‘’Oh, is that right? And what about Scootaloo, Hardy? What did we leave her behind for? If anybody’s fighting for her life, it’s her, and you know it! She’s our little girl, and we shouldn’t have left her, but no, you wanted to leave the ‘dead weight’ behind, didn’t you? Didn’t you?!’’ Silver Star roared like a wild animal, thrusting her nose into her husbands as she barred her teeth at him, about ready to explode.

Hardy Wetwool didn’t flinch or back down, and he held his ground, disapprovingly hardening his glare at his wife. That’s what he loved about this mare; she was as tenacious as she was stubborn. She really was full of fire and fury when she was irked or rubbed the wrong way, and it made Hardy smile.

‘’You’re a regular little spitfire, aren’t you?’’ He asked with a sly grin. ‘’You’re something else, Silvy, you know that?’’

‘’And you’re a dirty, selfish, daughter-abandoning, wife-disrespecting animal!’’ She fired her own shots back. ‘’Look at us, Hardy, we’ve lost! Look at how we’re living!’’ She motioned around the living room.

The floorboards were termite-eaten and the dry walls were peeling and chalky, so cracked and old that it made Silver Star wonder how they were still managing to support their own weight. A ratty, old mattress covered with stains, marks and scuffs was placed through the door opening up into the small, cupboard-like bedroom, the only item filling it aside from a couple of empty tin cans. They had a perfect life back in Ponyville, and what did they leave for? 

Ponyville was where they said they wanted to raise a family, where they said they were happy, where they told each other that they wanted to settle down. Silver Star, despite how she feels about him from time to time, loves her husband, but he hadn’t been the same ever since his job at Cloudsdale’s weather factory got more demanding following his promotion to factory manager. The job paid the bills, that much was true, but it caused a snippet of Hardy to disconnect and die on the inside. 

Hardy didn’t drink and he never allowed himself to stood that low in order to cope with the added pressure that came with his responsibility to oversee the every function, requirement and work ethic at the factory. Instead, he disconnected himself from what was his family, including his daughter. He had seemed to stop paying attention to her overnight, to the point where he could be said to have stopped loving her. 

Scootaloo’s eighth birthday was when they had left her, but Silver Star, as her mother, was reluctant to leave her. Hardy, when Silver had tried to grab her little girl and to take her with them, had slammed her against the mirror in her bedroom, shattering it into oblivion. Even now, Silver remembered how his large, barrel-like chest heaved against her own chest, how hot and savage his breath was against her face. She was terrified, like a tiny bug beneath a pony’s hoof, sure that he was about ready to give her a beating.

‘’No, we’re not taking that brat with us! Understand?’’ He had bellowed into her face, and she didn’t manage as much as a shaky nod and a tremble of her lip, utterly petrified to object any further. 

‘’Hardy, you can do or say whatever you like, but there’s no denying that we’ve lost this round. We’ve hardly got any money left, we’ve got no connections in the city and we’re out of food and water. If we stay here any longer, then I’m afraid that we’re going to be in serious trouble,’’ Silver Star said, sighing and giving her husband a blank, burned-out stare. ‘’Hardy, I can’t do this anymore.’’

Hardy Wetwool gave his wife a look, wondering what she meant by that. He no longer felt anger towards her, just curiosity mixed in with a knowing sense of dread. He had a feeling he knew where this was going.

‘’What…what are you talking about?’’

‘’Hardy…Wooly, I’m leaving you,’’ Silver Star said bluntly. She then got up and she proceeded to turn her back on her spouse, heading towards the door to the apartment. ‘’And if you’re wondering where I’m going, I’m off to find our daughter to see if she’s still alive. If you stop being so selfish and you find your common sense again one day, then come and find me,’’ She said, and she simply left.

‘’Silvy! Silver Star, don’t you dare walk out on me!’’ Hardy hollered after her, chest heaving as he took short, heavy breaths, flaring his nostrils as he caught her tail disappearing around the corner. ‘’SILVER STAR!’’ 

 And then Silver Star slammed the door behind her.