//------------------------------//
// Sam Garner  
// Story: The Angels Take Manehattan 
// by Steve Stevenson 
//------------------------------//

I crack my neck and sit down at the typewriter. I never thought my life would come to this. All my days I had spent being a private eye, getting my hooves dirty to keep the big guys hooves clean. I never thought my life would get this screwed up. I look around my small room, the room I’d have to spend the rest of my sad equine life in.
"Come on Sam, at least you get to live" I think to myself, but I know it's a lie. I start to type:
New York, the city of a million stories. Half of them are true, the other half just haven't happened yet. My story begins many years from now, when I accepted a job from a man by the name of Grayle. I walked into his office.
"Statues," the man said. "Living statues, that moved in the dark." I thought he was crazy.
"So, will you take the case Mr. Garner?" he asked me, placing the money on his desk in front of me.
"Sure, why not?" I replied sarcastically. A smile spread across Mr. Grayle's face that I didn't like.
"Because you don't believe me." he retorted.
"For 25 bits a day plus expense, I’ll believe any damn thing you like." I answered, itching to get my hooves on that money.
"But you don't believe statues can move."
I stood in front of him, speechless.
He smirked. "And you're right, Mr. Garner, they can't. Of course they can't" he chuckled. The smirk disappeared from his face and he turned to the window. "When you’re looking."
"Good night Mr. Grayle." I say, and start to leave, taking the money with me.
The address Grayle gave me was an apartment block near Battery Park. He said it was where the statues lived. I asked him why he didn't go looking himself, he didn't answer. Grayle was the scariest guy I knew, if something scared him, I kinda wanted to shake its hoof. I walked up to the Winter Quay, stopping before I entered. People in the building were watching me, as if they knew why I was there. I ignored this, and went to knock on the door. They opened before I even lift a hoof to knock. Something about this place gave me the creeps, but I needed the extra dough. I walked in, the doors closing behind me.
"Hello?" I called, but no one answered. Suddenly, the lift came down, and its doors opened right in front of me. I slowly trotted in; making sure the area was safe. Before I could even touch a button, the lift took off, ascending me upwards. The lift stopped about three to four flights up, and I stepped out. I slowly walked down the hall, reading the names on the doors. I stopped at 702, and read the name, but something wasn't right. My initials were written above the ringer. The door opened, and I walked in. "Hello? Any pony home?" I called. I stopped at the coat rack. The hat was identical to mine, and so was the coat. A wallet was lying on the little coffee table, and I slipped one of the cards out. I gasped. The card I was holding was worn, and beaten, but it was unmistakably mine. I heard a man grunt in the other room.
"Hello?" I called, and I placed the card on the table. I knocked on the door to the other room, and it creaked open. An old man lay on his deathbed, keeping his face in the shadows.
"Who are you?" I asked as gruff as I could.
"They’re comin for you" he wheezed, "They’re gonna send you back."  
"Who’s comin? Back were?" I questioned.
"In time. Back in time. I'm you." he answered, and pulled his face out of the shadows.
"I'm you." he said again. I took one hoof back, and he breathed out. He didn't take another breath. I trotted out of the room, and into the hallway. My heart stopped. A Pegasus statue in robes made of stone was waiting there, hands off of its face. I heard the lift ding and I swung my head around toward it. Another one was in the lift! I turned back towards the other one, pulling out my gun. It had moved closer! That crazy man Grayle was telling the truth! The two were closing in on me, each moving when I looked away. I opened the stair doors, and headed down as fast as I could, but there were more, heading towards me!! I cantered up the stairs, my heart pumping at an alarming rate. I threw the door to the roof open, and closed it behind me. I heard a crashing metal hoof step of sorts, but I kept running. I ran to the edge of the roof, looking over at the cars. There was no way out. I was trapped!! The crashing hoof steps stopped, and I slowly turned around. There, on the other side of the building, was mare liberty herself, mouth wide open, revealing a nasty a mouth of teeth.
"You gotta be kidding me." I said. I was gonna die on that death bed, on this date. That is, if it wasn't for the Roman and his bride.