Just like the guards didn’t lie about paying at the hospital, they also didn’t lie about us being able to use the homeless shelter. We asked someone to direct us there, but when we got there, we were turned away on account of not being crystal ponies. I wondered how many other things we’d be denied because we weren’t crystal ponies.
The city was absolutely gigantic, and finding a nice, lonely spot to sleep in outside was an ordeal. We came across a map of the Crystal Empire posted on a visitor sign somewhere, and saw just how far it extended. Five hundred square miles was the city we were in, appropriately titled ‘Crystal City’, and thirty five thousand was the entire country, with other, smaller cities in the surrounding area. It was an area about the size of Maine, all of which was surrounded by mountains, making anything other than train to get out of here completely out of the question. The nearest point to Equestria from Crystal City was the top of Mount Everhoof.
But that was a problem for later. The problem for now was finding a spot to sleep in, which didn’t take as long as I would’ve expected. We found a park nearby, one that was empty of all except for a few birds and a couple of benches. It was heavily wooded, empty, and a good enough spot to rest for now.
“I’m gonna stay up for a little while,” Moberly said as Shorey and I laid down, the benches we were on side by side so that our heads were next to each other. “I’m gonna try and walk around to get myself tired. I’ll be back later.” She left silently with that, leaving Shorey and I alone.
“I’m pretty sure Moberly is trans, but do you know if that’s for a fact?” I asked. “Even with the things they say, I just get that vibe from them.”
“Yeah, she’s trans,” Shorey told me, not opening her eyes. “She’s gonna be too proud to ever admit it though, so don’t expect her to say anything.”
“That’s what I figured… God, it’s gonna be hard not being so bitter and jealous.” That was now two people who did nothing to transition and got exactly what they wanted. It was worse with Moberly because she was openly transphobic. It was a safe guess to say she still would be after that comment she sent my way a few hours ago.
“I’m sorry I’ve been acting annoying all day,” I apologized again. “But please tell me if I’m ever bugging you. Please.”
“You’re fine. We’re both just tired and need sleep.”
That was certainly the truth. Before I knew it, I was waking up in the mid morning sun. Moberly was on the ground beneath my bench and Shorey was opening her eyes at the same time as me. It felt like I was asleep for a good, long time, probably over ten hours. I felt a lot more well rested than yesterday.
“Wow, I actually slept eight hours, I think,” Shorey commented as she stretched and yawned. “I don’t remember the last time I did that.”
“Being awake for forty eight hours probably helped with that,” I said as I got up and stretched. “I think I feel better than I did last night. A nice warm bed would be great though.” A body I wanted to be in would be even better.
“I was thinking we could head back to the castle and see what we could do there. If we can see Princess Cadance–”
“Then I won’t care about a bed because I’ll be teleported to Ponyville and getting myself fixed,” I said.
“That’s a best case scenario, but I don’t think that’s very realistic since she won’t even know who we are. But hopefully something like that happens.”
“Well, I hope that’s what happens, because I’m not staying like this one second longer than I have to,” I said. “Can I wake Moberly up?”
“Let’s let her sleep,” Shorey suggested. “I don’t know how long she was up last night, and we have all day today.”
“I’m already awake,” she said as she crawled out from under the bench and stretched her legs. Her eyes were a little bit red, but neither of us said anything about it. I wished I could’ve told her something, but just from what I’d seen and what Shorey told me, I doubted that she would want to hear it.
“I could go for something to eat, but I’m ready to leave if you guys are.”
There were no objections, and a short time later, we were in front of the castle gates again. This time though, there were no guards to stop us, and we were able to make our way through. There was a long line outside the front door, with more than a few ponies walking around the courtyard area with cameras around their necks. I wondered what day it was.
“Clothes would be nice to have,” Moberly commented as we stood in line, slowly moving forward. “I don’t like standing out here completely naked like this,” she said.
“You at least have a tail to help you,” I said, suddenly feeling insecure about being seen. “But I’m sure there’s a store somewhere that’ll sell us something when we find some money. Dresses for the three of us would be cute,” I teased.
I turned to see Moberly blushing deeply at that, a little smile on her face at the thought of it. It quickly dropped when she saw me watching through, her ears pressing against her skull in embarrassment.
“I think you mean two of us,” she corrected, trying to put contempt into her voice. “One of us isn’t gonna look good wearing a dress.”
“Why wouldn’t Shorey look good wearing a dress?” I asked, feigning confusion. “That’s a pretty rude thing to say about her.” I might have been dysphoric as hell, but it was normally easy to let comments like that roll off of me like water.
“Well either way,” Shorey jumped in, wanting to avoid an argument, “we’re all gonna have to get used to it because everyone here is naked all the time. Now let’s get going. Our turn to go inside is coming up.”
A couple of seconds later, we were stepping inside as a guard greeted us. He was another pegasus, the same face and armor as the two we saw last night. He had a look like he’d rather be doing anything else.
“Business?” he asked, looking between the three of us until his eyes settled on me.
“Ah, we want to talk to Princess Cadance about… um…” I could see out of the corner of my eye Shorey watching carefully to see what I’d say, so I decided to keep my mouth shut. I couldn’t remember if she said she didn’t want them to know that we were from Earth, but I decided not to risk it.
“Well, long story short, we want to get in contact with Twilight Sparkle so I can stop–”
“Twilight Sparkle is an Equestrian princess. You’ll have to go to Canterlot to speak to one of them.”
“I know, but–”
“Was there anything else I could help you with?”
“Can we just talk to Princess Cadance?” Shorey stepped up and asked. “That’s who we want to see.”
“You’ll have to fill out a registration with Type Writer,” he said. “She’s a mare on the second floor who schedules appointments with the Crown. Third stand on the right.”
“Mare, second floor, third stand on the right,” Shorey repeated. “Got it.”
“Great. Next!”
We were being pushed to the side by the ponies behind us, into a large, open hall with an impossibly tall ceiling. There were hundreds of ponies, most of them just smiling and pointing at stuff and taking pictures. A few of them weren’t crystal ponies, but most were, seemingly here just to visit. It reminded me of the White House in a way, except we could actually request a meeting with the president.
We found our way to the second floor and came to another line in front of Type Writer, a yellow mare with a pink mane like Fluttershy, except a serious expression on her face and glasses. She looked like she’d rather be doing anything else.
“Can I help you?” she asked, not looking up at us when we got to the front of the line.
“Uh, we’re supposed to see you to make an appointment to see Princess Cadance?”
“The first slot she has available is December 10th at three fifteen in the afternoon,” she said factually, already turning to the page in the calendar. “Can I get your names, please?”
“Wait, December?” I asked. “Isn’t it February right now?”
“The Crown is booked up for the next ten months,” she said. “Of course, these dates are subject to change depending on Princess Cadance’s schedule. Monster attacks and such affect it greatly.”
“I can’t wait ten months,” I said, taking a deep breath to keep myself calm. “I’m not spending a whole year as a stallion. I cannot live like this for that long.”
I stepped back and let Shorey and Moberly do the talking so I could breathe. There was no way I was going to be able to last a year like this. That just wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t think I was going to be able to take a month of this, it was so painful. A year of having to do this, and I didn’t know what I’d come to. Nothing good, that I knew.
I found a wall to place my back against and sat down and closed my eyes. Breathe. You’re gonna get through this. You just have to breathe and take your time and don’t wallow in dysphoria.
I wasn’t going to get through this, not for a year. A few months, maybe, but I knew a year would be more than I could bear. Nineteen years before I started transitioning was almost more than I could bear before. I could not do another year.
“It’s gonna be okay, Rally,” Shorey suddenly whispered, appearing in front of me. She was wearing big, sad, sympathetic looking eyes that pierced through to my soul. Even Moberly seemed a little bit sad for me, although she was standing awkwardly away from me, clearly uncomfortable by my sadness.
“You’re gonna make it through this,” she told me encouragingly. “I can only imagine how hard it would be to lose this feeling, but…” She closed her eyes for a second and started to cry as she said, “but you’re the strongest mare I know, so I know you’re gonna get through this.”
“I can’t do a year,” I said, my tone completely serious, wishing I could cry as I stared back at her. “I’m telling you that right now. I cannot do that.”
“I know, Rally,” she said tearfully, wiping her eyes with a hoof and regaining her composure. “I wouldn’t be able to do another year of that either, now that I can be myself. But we were originally going to take a train to Canterlot, remember?”
“How long do you think that’s gonna take to get?” I asked, my voice cracking a little bit. “Rusty Bucket said it was expensive, I think. Is it gonna take months?”
“I don’t know, but I do think it’ll be faster. Moberly and I put down a meeting with Princess Cadance just in case though.”
“I can’t wait that long,” I said, closing my eyes again. “I can’t live like this.”
“I know, but try thinking about what it’s gonna be like when you get fixed again. Maybe it’ll be better than before. If you could have kids, that would make it worth it, right?”
“It’d be very close,” I agreed, sniffling. “I think that’d be the only way to make this all okay.”
“Well try focusing on that. I wouldn’t be surprised if Twilight has a magic spell to turn you into a mare in a second.”
“Hey, guys, can we go now?” Moberly suddenly interrupted, earning a look from Shorey and a glare from me. “I’m hungry, and haven’t eaten since I got here.”
“Eat what?” I asked. “We don’t have money for food. Where are we gonna get bits?”
“I don’t know, but standing here wallowing in sorrow certainly isn’t gonna get us anything.”
“You could be a little nicer, you know,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“We’ll look around for something,” Shorey said. “More importantly though, we need someplace to stay. I don’t want to keep spending the night outside, and I need a shower.”
“Can’t stay at a homeless shelter either,” I grumbled. “With no money, we’re just gonna keep sleeping outside and being homeless.”
“We’ll find something,” she insisted. “The mare we were talking to said there are places we can go that don’t charge rent up front. And in a city this big, there’s bound to be jobs. We can even stop by the train station and see if we can work there while we check how much tickets to Canterlot cost.”
That was Shorey, always putting her mind to work and getting things on track. I was grateful she was here. I wouldn’t have made it as far as the Crystal Empire without her, and would’ve lost my mind if I was alone with Moberly. Even when I argued with her and got frustrated and felt terribly jealous, I was absolutely in love. At the very least, she was my best friend.
“Okay,” I said, letting out a breath and wiping my still dry eyes as I stood back up. “That sounds like a good plan.” I paused for a second before adding, “And thanks for being there for me, as annoying and mopey and argumentative as I can be. It means a lot.”
“No trouble,” she said kindly. “That’s what I’m here for.” She sent a kind smile my way that made my heart melt and put a smile on my face.
“God, I’m gonna die of a heart attack right here if you don’t stop being so adorable. You just never ever stop being the cutest thing possible, do you?”
“I’m just trying to be kind,” she replied, still smiling, but now blushing deeply. “I don’t see how that could be adorable.”
“And when you say things like that, you get twenty three times more adorable,” I laughed. “It’s absolutely unbelievable.”
“Well, I– I think we should get going now,” she declared, stumbling over her words just a little bit, still not able to put down her smile. “I think it’s safe to say we have a full day ahead of us.”
I said I wouldn’t be able to last a year, but with Shorey here in Equestria, it might actually have been a possibility. I would need her with me to be able to stand a chance of lasting that long if it came to that.