„Next stop: Manehatten! “
Scootaloo rose from her seat, slowly making her way to the door. By now, it was dark outside, but Manehatten shined like it was still day. Giant billboards and advertisements lit the city, loud music blasted out of some clubs.
The first step for Scootaloo would be to find a place where she could sleep.
She followed some small roads, leaving the lit parts of the city behind her. Only few lanterns kept her way barely lit, and the further she went, the more of them were broken.
She kept walking, searching the town for abandoned places.
About half an hour later she found a small shed that was barely standing, with an open door. Scootaloo peeked in, searching it for any signs of another pony that used this shed as a place to sleep. It seemed empty, so she entered and lay down. Exhausted from the long day on her journey and the events of the morning, she fell asleep almost immediately.
“Money or life!” a harsh voice shouted, waking Scootaloo from her sleep. She stared at the knife right in front of her eyes, not understanding why it was there.
“I’m not kidding, filly! Empty your saddlebags!”
These words brought the face behind the knife to her attention. A grey unicorn with a scarred face stared at her, levitating the knife, ready to stab her.
"I’ll count to three, then I’ll stab you. One.”
“Bu-but I don’t have any money!” Scootaloo tried to explain.
“Two.” The unicorn continued.
“Please understand me!”
“Three.”
Scoots saw the knife coming closer, when suddenly she heard a loud “Clonk” and the unicorn broke down. Behind it was a cyan, rainbow-maned filly, about Scoots’ age, holding a fencepost in her mouth. A glimmer of hope appeared in Scootaloo’s heart.
“Rainbow Dash?” She asked.
“My name’s Lightening Runner, but you can just call me ‘Bash’.”
“Thanks for your help, Bash. How can I ever thank you?”
The cyan filly just laughed and said “You could start by telling me your name, sis. Besides, we all need to work together to survive, huh?”
Sis? This filly was really strange.
“So, uh… what now?”
“Ya new in Manehatten, huh? What’cha doin’ here, anyways?”
Scootaloo had to think for a moment. Somehow she felt she could trust this rainbow-maned pony. Maybe because she remembered her of Rainbow Dash, even though she seemed to have no wings.
“I had a couple of problems back home in Ponyville, which forced me to leave the town.” Bash could feel Scootaloo didn’t really want to talk about it, so she didn’t ask any further.
“I’m from Trottingham. Just like you, I had some problems. Couldn’t live there anymore, so I decided to run away. I don’t know why, but somehow I like you. I’ve been kinda lonely since I’m away from home, so I’d be really happy to have a companion. You agree?”
Scootaloo thought about it for a moment. She was pretty lonely, too, and having a companion surely would be nice. “Sounds like a good idea. I agree. Thanks again, Bash!” Scoots answered.
Now Bash laughed out loud. “Don’t mention it, filly, I’m glad to have helped you.”
She paused for a moment. “Maybe someday you will save my life, too.” she said serious.
That's when Scootaloo’s stomach spoke for itself, releasing a loud growl, that made them laugh again. “I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had any food in over a day now. You don’t have any money by chance, do you?” She asked.
Bash shook her head. “Even better, I know a place where we might get something nice to eat. Just follow me.” She left the shed.
Bash smiled. “Come on now, I’m hungry!” Scootaloo followed her out the shed, when she was overwhelmed by the view that she had. The sun rose from a building, throwing the light exactly at them. The whole sky was colored red. They couldn’t stop staring at it, until Scoots stomach complained again.
She smiled. “Let’s go.”
The place Bash talked about turned out to be an old pub. It had a sign that was about to fall off, which said ‘The final sprint’ above the stairs into the pub. “You’re sure this is the right place?” Scoots asked.
“Of course I am.” Bash gave her an encouraging smile and followed the stairs down into the pub. “Rusty? Ya there?”
They heard some grumbling, when a grey, old stallion with an eye patch came in. “Bash. You’re back?” He asked with a rough voice. “Who’s that friend of yours?”
“That’s Scootaloo. I found her in a shed on the ‘Broken Boulevard’. I heard somepony talking about stabbing somepony in there and was not a single second too early. Some unicorn tried to mug her. Now tell me, do you have some food for two hungry fillies?”
The old stallion laughed. “I always have some spare food for you and your friends. Just bring those to Sharon, while I prepare it.” He pointed at two bags.
Bash picked up one of them and gave it to Scoots, then put the other one on her back. “She’ll never learn that this isn’t the right way, huh? We’ll be back in about half an hour then. See ya.”
She left the pub, followed by the confused Scootaloo. “What’s that?” She asked.
“Just a few drinks, some of Rusty’s best. Are you a good runner?”
“Faster than you are, I bet!” Scoots laughed. Bash joined her laughter.
“Well, we will see. Let’s race! Reeeaaady, set, GO!” She shouted and started running. Soon she left Scootaloo behind her, quickly gaining distance between them. She ran into a small alley to the left and vanished from the orange pony’s field of view.
She followed her, when Bash suddenly jumped out of the shadows, right in front of Scoots and screamed “Boooh!”
Scootaloo flinched, tripped and crushed into her. “Not fair!” She shouted as they rolled towards a wall.
They lay on top of each other, laughing. Scootaloo hugged Bash, said “You nearly really scared me there, Bash” and continued her laughter.
Bash pulled her closer and decided it was time for a little taunt. “Aww, you poor, poor thing, come to mommy.” Their laughter got louder, but after some time, Bash gave Scoots a strange, somehow happy look and stopped laughing. The filly couldn’t really explain this look, but her heart warmed up with it.
She lost herself in Bash’s eyes. She hadn’t realized they were dark blue until now. Like an ocean. Her head moved closer to Bash’s. The feeling that grew in her stomach as she looked in her eyes amazed her.
It was like butterflies were flying inside.
She somehow felt so light, that she thought she’d fly away once Bash would let go of her. As much as she liked it, it irritated her, too.
She never had had this kind of feeling, but she was told it would feel like this when she was in love. But in love with another filly?
She had always thought that this wasn’t natural, but right now it felt so right. Before she could finish her thoughts, their lips touched.
The feeling of her lips on Bash’s stopped all her thinking.
In this moment, everything felt perfectly fine, and that was all that mattered.
Before she closed her eyes, she could see in Bash’s eyes that she felt exactly the same way about this.
She started to move her lips on Bash’s, just enjoying the warmth streaming in her. Bash opened her lips and pushed her tongue against Scoots lips, convincing her to open hers, too.
Their tongues touched and released another wave of happiness into both of them. Their tongues became one, and Bash pulled Scootaloo closer towards her, less gentle now, wishing to never have to let go of her again.
Bash separated their tongues. “Uhm… We should get going, I guess… Sharon must be waiting for us…”
They had lost track of the time, but it was obvious that this wasn’t integrated in the half hour they had. Scoots rolled off of Bash, slowly standing up.
She nodded and started to check the bags to see if any bottles were broken. She found them all intact, so she picked up the bag. Bash had done the same with hers and continued the walk. They walked the rest of the way in silence.
Scoots caught herself looking at Bash, quickly turning away when she looked back. She would swear to feel Bash staring at her, too.
After a while, they arrived at a small shabby house, greeted by a strong stench of alcohol and cigarettes.
“We’re here. This is Sharon’s place.”