You know, when I got my apartment, I was expecting a bit less given this place was incredibly cheap. It wasn’t much, it wasn’t anything grandiose or anything, but it was a place I lived. It wasn’t home; I don’t want to think of this place as home yet. My bed was… plain, it had white sheets and a blue blanket along with a couple of white pillows on it. Beside the bed, on both sides were simple, brown nightstands with a red lamp that ran off magic, on the left side of the bed. Each one was made of wood, and had one drawer near the top that was only big enough to only fit whatever book you were reading before bed. Below that was another spot that was kinda like a bookcase.
The carpet… was rough. I couldn’t really feel it with my hooves, but it kinda resembled carpet that you’d see in a school building. Boring mixture of dark, blueish colors, rough, not pleasant to walk on or anything. It wasn’t soft, it wasn’t smooth. Luckily, on top of that there was a floor mat that was way fluffier and more pleasant to lay on. In the center of the room, next to the bed, was a studying desk... Kinda. It was more like a small, black coffe table that was made out of… what I think is just colored oak wood. It was cheap, it was shitty, but it was my workspace.
Sitting on it was a candle sitting in a candle holder that had a spot for a thumb to slot in to make holding it easier for some reason. The wax was partially melted from long, long nights of studying. Beside the candle was a pack of candles I had bought… because Candles don’t last long. Beside that was a stack of notes, a copy of the Introduction to Runes, a copy of Will, and the copy of Advanced Magic. They were basically magic books for the three systems of magic. On top of those was my notebook with my own findings when it came to developing my own system of magic.
My saddlebags, dark, brown and actually kinda high quality because Celestia gave them to me. My cutie mark was etched into it with black black leather, that was already beginning to fade. Those were sitting right next to the hallway that led into the front door. My bed was actually really close to the window, and took up a majority of my room. If you came in from the hallway, my bed would be the first thing you see, then my coffe table to the left as you step into it.
I was sitting down on a brown cushion that was next to my coffe table, that kinda sucked, looking through various job application forms that I had just filled out. I wanted to find a job, so I could do something other than sit around and wait for the next lesson I have with Celestia. Since lessons are always on a Saturday, even Princesses get weekends after all, I would get six days to do whatever the heck I want. The problem with that is that I barely had enough money for a loaf of bread, some other foods, and tea. Dreadful, awful tea. Rent and food were technically covered by Princess Celestia, but I ended up using the stipend I got every week on food anyways, since there isn’t much else I can do with it.
There’s no golf, there’s no amusement parks(that I can afford to go to), there’s no sports. I have no friends, so I can’t even go to the bar and have a drink with them. In fact, I don’t have friends, so I don’t have anyone to do anything with. Sure, I could go hangout with Celestia at any time, she would make the time for me, but I didn’t want to interrupt her doing Princessy things, since the day she takes out of the week to tutor me or Twilight sets her back a fair amount when it comes to paperwork and court petitioners.
I could spend some time with Twilight Sparkle, but I don’t think she likes me all that much. I say it’s fair, given that Celestia said that Twilight isn’t the most outgoing of ponies and is the literal embodiment of ‘nerd’. She seems weary of me at least. And also doesn’t like how ‘casual’ mine and Celestia’s relationship is. Celestia… admittedly is the only friend that I have right now, and I treat her as such. Say shit to her face, but then praise her in private or secretly really enjoy her company.
Celestia was more than accepting of this style of approach. I call her an idiot, she then makes me look like an idiot, and then we snuggle up together after a studying session while reading one of her favorite books. Usually it’s a Daring Do book, or one that’s nearly five hundred years old. Usually the five hundred year old books are really, really good. Celestia makes for a really good pillow and has a really soothing reading voice, hence why it’s a tradition that we end nearly every Saturday in her bed chambers next to the fireplace to read a book together.
Sun Butt is a really cool pony, all things considered.
Oh yeah, job applications. I have several, one for a place called ‘Hayburger’s Al’Round’, another for a museum as a receptionist. I have one for just about any job I could think of. Retail, food service, everything shy of being a prostitute was on my table. I had filled each out with my current existing info that Celestia made for me, and was getting ready to go on my rounds to submit every single one into the right places.
And a note from Celestia giving her word that I wouldn’t suck at whatever job I ended up taking. It was copied several dozen times the very moment she heard that I was trying to find a job. She seemed surprised and even teased me about finally ‘not freeloading’ off her money…
Celestia, you are a bitch, and I love you for it.
Well, since I couldn’t really use the post office to send everything everywhere, mostly because I don’t know where it is. I never really went outside of my apartment. I only knew where the marketplace was, since that’s where I got my food, the route to the castle(that isn’t saying much. Every road in this city will eventually take you to the castle), and the route back from the castle to my apartment. With that said, I finally remembered something pretty important.
I’m in a brand new world, a whole new city. I literally am living in a magical world… and I wasn’t trying to enjoy it.
There really wasn’t any way to enjoy it, though. Again, see me not having friends as a reason why. Now, I could go make friends… But there’s a problem with that. We’ll see why while I go out and deliver all these applications. Despite me living in the capital of Equestria… the part of town I decided to find an apartment in… was kinda rough. The rest of the city looked uniform in design, and was usually pretty nice looking. Where I chose to live… reminded me of a generic tiny little motel building. It was the cheapest place I could rent out, and for how cheap it was… it wasn’t awful?
There wasn’t a stove, there wasn’t a microwave since those don’t exist. I got left with a fridge, a basic food pantry, and I had to buy myself a portable, magic stove and oven. Not even a nice one; it was some tiny little thing that I think might catch on fire one day. Hence why I tried making toast with magic. You don’t need cooking appliances if you can magically cook whatever meal you want… I’m out of bread because of that experiment. That bread was supposed to last me a week!
So anyways, I kinda need to get a job so I can have more bread, and maybe an actual apartment.
Genuinely, I think I might get stabbed every time I walk out of my apartment. The other day, I watched some ponies sell drugs to each other and the group gave me some weird looks.
Luckily, four weeks of stipend checks, and only running on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, because of how cheap they are, and… I have about thirty bits that I can spare every week. Yeah, ‘rent and food are included’. More like it’s taken out of my actual stipend check, which is about a hundred bits, and then I’m given the leftovers of the check to pay for food. Rent is forty bits, and I think my groceries are about thirty bits. A little more, a little less depending on the day.
That leaves me with ten bits to use every week. Twenty bits went into my amazing saving system… a cleaned out jar that was used for peanut butter.
My apartment was pretty deep into the ‘rough’ parts of Canterlot. Trash littered the streets, there were cracks in the streets and the sidewalks, why sidewalks exist, I don’t know. Occasionally there was a cracked window, or a shattered roof tile on the ground here or there, or a feral cat running from shadow to shadow to try and avoid ponies. Sometimes I do end up rushing through this part of town, because I genuinely don’t like walking down it at night. It’s why if I end up going to school at Celestia’s place, and I stay late, I’m not above accepting the invitation to stay the night with her. At least she drags me into her bed chambers for snuggles at night.
With me being horribly unathletic, by pony standards, I probably look like something easy to rob. One thing I’ve noticed is that my hearing and sense of smell are way better, which was disorienting at first. However, right now, it feels like a godsend. Because I think some ponies are following me. I took a left turn and… bumped into a huge pony without a horn or a pair of wings… and Earth Pony. He was bright yellow, was kinda rough looking, and was… well, big. His mane was brown, and kinda… messy. He was missing a tooth
“Oh shoot… sorry about running into ya,” I backed away and quickly glanced behind me. There was a pair of pegasi, both had a matching cyan mane and red mane and tail. They were significantly smaller than the earth pony stallion before me. In fact, they were very rough looking mares. I really do not like the sheathed knives strapped to their necks.
“Alright, unicorn,” the earth pony’s voice was… gruff. Like he spent every day of his life smoking a pack of cigs. “What is going to happen here is that you’re going to drop your saddlebags, and you’re going to give us that bit pouch that’s hanging around your neck. And we might consider letting you live.”
“Sir,” I said, trying to put some distance between me and the earth pony. “All I have on me are job applications and whatever I need to get food. I’ve got like… five bits on me, man.”
“What’s a man?” the stallion shook his head. “Look, give me those bits… and my pretty little ladies won’t hurt you. You damn unicorns have it easy in this city; you’re going to pay us whether you like it or not.”
“Mmm…” I really don’t like this. I could use my magic to conjure up a fireball and pound this guy in the face, or I try to outrun two ponies with wings. I took a step back before deciding to do something stupid. My horn lit up as I took my bit pouch off… I slowly started moving it over to the Earth pony.” Then, as quickly as I could, I Runed out ‘SMOKE’ and threw my magic at the ground…. Huh, that actually works as a really good smokescreen. I ran past the stallion before running out a shield spell in case the pegasi decided to try and stab me. As weak as my shields are, it was better to have some form of defense.
“Get back here!” One of the mares immediately tackled me, shattering my shield… only for me to put up another one as soon as we were pinned to the ground. “My stallion said-EEK!” Huh. No matter the species, hit them between the legs, or the hindlegs in this case, and it hurts like a bitch. I dropped my shield spell and quickly grabbed the pegasus lying on the ground and groaning in pain. I pulled her knife out of its sheath before holding up to the mare’s neck.
“Let me go,” I said firmly. I was shaking as adrenaline rushed through my head. “Please just let me go. I don’t wanna hurt her, but I will drag this woman to the Guard, or even to my teacher and let her deal with it.”
“Please, what could a school teacher… Holy Celestia.” I took a whiff of the air… and turned my head back. There she was, in all her glory.
“Oh Sunny! What are you doing out here?” I dropped the mare and the knife.
“I was hoping to come by and pick you up for lunch. What is going on here?” Celestia asked. Her horn lit up… that’s a lie detection spell. “Why were you holding a knife to that mare’s throat…” She looked over the other three ponies, and I immediately could tell that she could already guess what was happening.
“We were teaching him some self defense lessons, your highness!” The other mare quickly said.
“With knives?”
“Yes, yes! This part of town, as you might know, is a rather dangerous part of Canterlot. And your student expressed-”
“They were trying to jump and mug me,” I said plainly. “I was going to use the mare I was threatening as an out.” I shivered. “Fuck…” I quickly scampered underneath Celestia, and she gave me a quick, warm smile, before casting a cold glare upon my three assailants.
“I do believe that we all can move on? You three are lucky that attempted robbery only results in a few days in the dungeons. And you three are even luckier that my student isn’t fully innocent either. Now, go. Leave my student alone, because after this, if you try to mug Source, he is fully authorized to defend himself in any way he deems fit.” The earth pony nodded, before quickly grabbing the mare I had held a knife to, and started running. His other… The other mare ran off after them.
I stepped out from under Celestia and fell on my butt. “Oh god, that was terrifying,” I shivered.
“We have much to discuss. First though, I did want to come grab you for lunch.”
“Why?”
“We barely spend time together outside of our lessons. I have… learnt to not spend all my time on just bureaucracy. I’ve been alive long enough to know that I should set aside time for my friends, and you very easily fit that category. Hence why I was walking out here to find you… To see you threatening a mare with a knife?”
“That wasn’t the right move?”
“It was the only move you could do… you didn’t want to accidentally hurt anypony during that, did you?”
“I could’ve used magic in an offensive capacity, but I knew that a fireball could be lethal. I tried using a smokescreen to try and run, but the pegasus, the one that I was holding a knife to, tackled me… I may have used an underhoof tactic to get into that position. I still don’t feel great about doing that. One slip up and I coulda killed somebody.”
“Well… It really was the only thing you could do, given your inability to teleport and your unwillingness to rely on magic, with good reason, to get yourself out of that situation. Threatening a pony with a knife isn’t legal though… But given the circumstances, and how you didn’t actually harm anypony, I will let you off the hook.” She leaned down and nuzzled me. “When I heard the commotion, on the way here, I may have broken into a gallop. I thought you were going to get hurt.”
“Sorry about making you worry…” I returned the nuzzle.
Celestia actually took all my job applications and said she would be distributing them to all of my potential employers. “So, any progress on your Runes?” Celestia asked as we sat down at some random cafe. I had ordered a weird pastry thing, since Celly was ordering it, and a sugary coffee. Because my friend is a psychopath, she got a black coffee for herself.
The cafe we actually went to was on the edge of the city’s ‘disks’. Canterlot was made of ‘disks’, the higher up on the disks, the more wealthy you probably were. Each one was connected via stairs and lifts… This little coffee shop was on the second highest disk, which was unofficially called the ‘shopping disk’ of Canterlot. We got a seat just by the window, which was actually a booth. It had nice, plush, red couches. It was probably the best spot in the house, since the building was built in such a way so that the windows on the back side of it, gave you a view of the rest of Equestria and everything down below Mount Canterlot.
The view was simply… stunning. In the distance, you can see a small, tiny little town with… hay roof tops next to a forest that was notorious for being the deadliest place on the planet. The contrast was insane. Bright, yellow, hay rooftops and luscious green fields, next to a dark green sea of death. I couldn’t get much else on the view, but seeing the land just fade past the horizon was… very relaxing.
“I realized that…” I did all the Runes that were vowels. “The vowels are actually all really similar to each other in terms of horn movements and the tiny noises our horns produces, when doing vowels, are very similar. It makes combining them easier… Also,” I lit my horn and did ‘F’ and a new Rune, as I finally figured out ‘IRE’ after several hornaches and a lot of trial and painful error. “Fire, two runes,” it was a weak fire spell, since I didn’t want to accidentally burn the cafe that we were eating to the ground. I even summoned a shield around it to snuff it out quicker.
“...Oh my.” Celestia squealed, making everyone turn to the big, immortal princess. “My apologies, everypony. I have picked up a new student as of recently, and he just did something incredible!”
“What is it, Princess?” A Random patron asked.
“My student has… Source Code has been learning how to make Rune Casting much, much easier. Just now, he shortened a Fire Spell’s casting time significantly and has invented two new Runes in the last week.” Everyone here was a unicorn by the way; they knew what Rune Casting was. “He shortened the Fire Spell down to two runes!” Now everyone was staring at me. I chuckled nervously and waved, before slowly focusing on my lunch. Instead of relying on magic to eat, I usually just use my hooves.
There was just something that felt off about holding a sandwich, or a stuffed bagel-calzone! looking thing, in this case, with magic.
My eyes widened when a camera flash went off and I buried my face in my pastry. It was like a mix between a calzone and burrito. It had marinara sauce, nice, stringy cheese, and had… bits of lettuce and tomatoes inside of it. It was pretty tasty. Celestia giggled and planted a kiss on my forehead as another camera flashed in the corner of my eye. “Oh god…” I muttered. I do not like this attention at all. I just want to sit around, discover new runes, and possibly work. I was up all night while trying to figure out that IRE rune over the last week. I slowly lifted my face out of my bagel thing, which was actually pretty good, and wiped my face off with a nearby napkin. “Celly, why did you have to say that?” I whispered.
“Because what you just achieved is incredible. Would it be better if your achievements just existed without your name on them?”
“...Maybe. I’m loving how runes work, and that it’s… like an old hobby of mine, but I’m not trying to be a celebrity. It’s why I asked my friends… to bury my name in the project we were working on, in the credits, instead of referencing me in a dedicated portion of the game.”
“You do look rather cute while you’re flustered,” Celestia hummed.
“Don’t you fucking dare…”
“Everypony, a toast to my student’s achievement!” I think my cheeks were becoming purple, and were becoming hot purple because of all of this rate. As everyone raised their cups of coffee to my… Whatever the heck I’m doing, I felt myself die a little on the inside. I glared at Celestia for a few moments, before just groaning and rolling along with what was happening. I don’t know why what I was doing was such a huge achievement, in all seriousness. I was just making new ways to improve casting spells.
Though I guess I’m not really a unicorn at heart; I don’t know how much harder it is for the average pony to cast a spell, or how much better my advancements were. I was just doing what I loved, and apparently doing a Fire Spell in two Runes was a really big deal… Or Celestia is just playing it up to encourage me to keep working, or just to fuck with me. Either or; she’s more than willing to go both ways just to embarrass me out in public.
We walked out of the cafe, only to be bombarded by a bunch of journalists. For some reason, if Celestia brought guards, they weren’t visible, or doing anything. Because a reporter suddenly got in my face. “What is your name, sir?”
“...Source Code,” I said.
“How is it being Princess Celestia’s personal student?”
“It’s fun, I guess.” Before I could answer in full, another person asked if I was sleeping with Celesita. Somebody asked what size my... equipment was, or how powerful I was with magic. It was question after question. I sat on my butt, breathing heavily as I looked left and right, up and down, before my eyes landed on the one thing that could bring me some form of comfort in this world. I just needed an out, and I needed it now! I tried to inch closer, while working against my tense muscles, to Celestia so she could hide me away from the crowd. I couldn't think straight; my heart was pounding in my head, and all I could think of was the potential safety that she could prove me. When I found her, she was happily answering questions in regards to me, what happened to Twilight Sparkle... I think.
“Twilight is still my personal student, she simply has gotten to a point where my personal input on her learning is… not as necessary as it once was. So I took another student, who shows an exceptional knowledge of Runes, and has come up-oh!” Celestia shot upright when I nipped her.
My friend glanced around to see who would dare nip her in public until she looked down and... immediately laid her eyes on me.
Celestia looked around the crowd once more, since I don't think she immediately saw what I was going through, I could see something playful in her eyes… until they fell upon me again. I was still breathing rather heavily and was trying to... hide under her. In an instant, the playful sparkle in her eyes turned to one of concern.
“Excuse us, everypony. I believe that my student and I are late to our scheduled tutoring hour. We will happily answer questions at a later date; I currently don’t have any dates planned, but it will be considered in the future.” With that, the crowd started parting like the Red Sea as we started making our way through the crowd. I sighed and relaxed a lot more once we took a turn, and a turn into a dark alley. I ploppled my rear on the ground only to be pulled closer to Celestia.
I felt her wing move up and down my back as the world outside the alleyway began to fade away. Celestia didn't make any sudden movements, or even spoke. She just laid down, and slowly coaxed me into doing so as well, and continued rubbing my back. Slowly, I could begin to hear the world around me that wasn't just my heart pounding away on the inside. Soon, the feeling of somebody grooming my mane... made me relax. I let out a long, withering sigh as I finally began to relax... then I heard somebody, no, Celly crying.
Celly was crying. I didn't like that.
“I am so, so sorry, Source,” Celestia whispered. “I merely held a toast in your honor, because of what you have managed to achieve over this last week, and because I genuinely believed you deserved some form of appreciation for your work I should’ve foreseen that group of reports coming out to question us the very moment they saw me sitting, alone, with a stallion. Now… I don’t think you can have a normal, quiet life like I know you were hoping to at least achieve once we’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t go back home very easily, if at all.”
Now I couldn't really stay mad at her, even if she did let things get way out of pocket. I'd rather forgive her than chase off my only friend. I... The way she held her eyes shut while she cried her eyes out... I couldn't stand to see that. “It… it’s fine, Celly. I genuinely did like sharing lunch with ya, even if I didn’t enjoy the toast part… Just please don’t just stand there when you see a whole herd of news reporters trying to question us.” I shuttered. “I don’t think my heart could handle that…” I shook my head. “I am awful at talking to people, because meeting new faces is terrifying. Then I’m in a crowd full of new faces that want nothing more to know more about that weird, socially awkward, skinny kid with a steadily declining mental health.”
“And yet it is still my fault. I am aware of your mental well-being, and your self esteem, and still decided to stand idly while you got hounded by those reporters and outed you in public for something when you want nothing to do with having your name attached to achievements, or to be a household name. I would like to say I’m sorry-Ooof!” I grabbed her cheeks, before nuzzling her on the nose and licking it just to get her to stop. Her panicking over my own well-being isn’t something I want to see, even if it is very endearing.
“It’s fine, Celly. Just promise me you won’t do that ever again.”
“I-I won’t.” I could see a blush forming under my friend's cheeks, which had... black streaks going down them. I know I've seen that look before... but... Meh, she looks cute while blushing. Who woulda figured that the Sun Raising, Demi-God of a Princess can:
Have a cute giggle.
Sneeze like a kitten.
Be cute while blushing.
“I won’t, for as long as I wear this crown, ever make you leave your comfort zone again, Source. I really wanted to spend the day with you, you know.”
“We can go to the castle and read as usual…”
“Or we can play minigolf,” Celestia suggested.
“Want to grab Twilight. It would serve as some bonding time, and hopefully help her relax around you a bit more.”
“Perhaps… If we can pull Twilight away from her studies, we shall invite her along to mini golf.” Celestia teleported a mirror to her. Then looked herself over. I could see some wet mascara go rolling down her cheeks. It had long since dried up, and caked into her face. "Perhaps after we get cleaned up first. You're a bit dirty, and I'm... a mess. Come, I shall carry you to my personal chambers where we can get cleaned up very quickly; we'll need to stop at the castle to pick up Twilight anyways. I nodded along dumbly before I realized...
Why was Celestia wearing makeup? She's told me a few times that she almost never uses the stuff. This was a casual lunch between two bros, even if Celestia wasn't a guy, she was still proper bro material.
I only had a moment to ponder upon Celestia wearing makeup until the alicorn in question slipped her forelegs under my chest, after making me stand up, before taking towards the sky... I screamed like a little... Man! I screamed like a man on the whole flight back to Celestia's home.