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// 1. Taking Manehattan 
// Story: A Poetry Anthology 
// by Shaslan 
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Looking into windows,
Looking into faces,
Looking for I know not what. 

Searching for meaning in all of this madness —
The whirligig bustle of Manehattan Central
Is spinning me like a leaf in a stream. 

I try to keep my head up, I try to stay afloat; 
To be kind and generous, to be true to what I hope
Everypony is, on the inside.

I am spun from sleep to work to sleep again
From catwalk to office to workshop 
A few snatched minutes and back once more —
I swear I’ll go until I drop. 

Hoping that this will all be worth it;
Hoping I can live my dream;
Hoping somepony can tell me
What all of this might mean.

I’m alone in the fight; I’ve never been so alone
So isolated from you all. But I’m clinging to this cliff,
My friends — I will not let myself fall. 

So one more stitch, one more cut,
Just one more until I’m done.
I can tell myself that, until it’s morning
And time for my next supply run.

It seems eons since I have seen you
Since I have held your hoof in mine;
It seems years since we have relaxed together
Oh, darling, how I long to unwind. 

But all of this will be worth it —
Though I feel about to drop. 
All of this will be worth it,
Which is why I will not stop. 

And you’re due in on the next train;
You’ve come to see me shine —
So I’m looking into windows and into faces
Which carriage holds the little ponies that are mine? 

There! The gleaming rainbow of your tail, your wide and smirking grin,
Followed by your pink bouncing gait, and you, the frazzled lilac mare— 
Your shy and sweet ‘hello’, whispered from behind your mane,
and that battered old brown hat of yours, that one you always wear—!
Oh, just let me hold you! Oh, my dears, welcome, one and all!
My friends, how I have missed you! Oh, nothing can compare!
What fun we shall have, now you are here at last —

Though of course, I have to work. But I’ve got you tickets to the latest show—
And I’ll join you soon — I promise, this play will drive you wild —
No, really, of course you must go —
And I’ll come, I will…just as soon as my work is done, my orders filed. 
Go on, darlings, really, go, I truly have to work…I’ll miss you all, I will, I will—
But really, I must work.