3: An Unexpected Meeting
It took another ten minutes to reach Canterlot through several tunnels, but always going up. I had to restrain myself from sticking my head out the window like a dog. The glimpse of the city that I got before the train entered the station was more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. I glimpsed beautiful wide streets of cobble stone lined with marble buildings. Above the entire city loomed the legendary Canterlot tower, standing over the entire city like a watchful guardian. Below that, I almost got a glimpse of the royal palace.
“Last stop, Canterlot station!” called the conductor from the engine room, his voice somehow reaching all the way down the cars.
“Nice meeting you Iron,” Rainbow said taking flight.
“Nice meeting you too,” I called after her as she flew down the corridor.
I called on my magic, feeling my horn light up, and lifted up my bag. The handle glowed a golden color, the same as my horn. It was easier weight-wise to carry my bags using magic, but I knew I would get a small headache later.
When I stepped off the train, I took out a scrap of newspaper from my bags. Before I had bought a ticket here, I had written ahead for a room. The rent was decent, and considering some of the places I had stayed at, sounded really nice.
I levitated my bags down the streets, amazed. The buildings all seemed to be connected. White marble made up the French styled buildings. Arches gracefully arched across the street, all decorated with facades of the history of Equestria. The cobble stone streets felt good under my hooves. Restaurants with outdoor café’s where ponies sat and mingled lined the streets. The smell of baking delicacies danced in my nose, their sweet flavor almost tapping the tip of my tongue. I closed my eyes and breathed it all in. this place was truly a paradise.
It didn’t take me long to find the house I was looking for, even though I had to force myself to look at the street names, not the buildings. Ponies lining the streets. That was another thing I heard right about. Every pony here was beautiful. And for the first time in my life, I felt underdressed.
Like most ponies I only wore clothes when it was cold out, or it was a special occasion. Now I had to look really hard to find somepony that wasn’t wearing cloths. Almost everypony either had a collar, tie, hat, or an entire suit coat on! I had only worn a suit once, and that was for a cousin’s wedding. I pushed the thought aside; maybe it was a holiday or something.
I continued walking until I found the house I was looking for, 326 Emerald way. I knocked on the door and waited.
From inside I heard the sounds of hooves on wood walking towards the door. It opened up slightly, revealing only one red iris eye. “Yeah?” the pony asked groggily the eyelid I could see slowly creeping shut.
“Hi, my names Iron quill. I’m here about the room,” I said cautiously.
“Oh!” the door shut for a second and I heard a deadbolt slide away. With a click, the door flew open.
Standing in the doorway was a pale white unicorn who had her blue mane either styled messy, or more than likely just got out of bed. She had a backwards Ti music note for a cutie mark. She flinched in the bright light and levitated a pair of purple shaded sunglasses onto her face. “That’s better. Sorry dude, I was out really late last night. Come on in!” She stepped aside letting me in.
Immediately the smell hit me. It smelled like a bunch of sour energy drinks, a nasty combination of sweet and bitter. I confirmed this theory when my hoof hit an empty can of the substance. The building was dark, so dark I couldn’t make out much of anything, except for a blue light being emitted from a laptop from a room at the end of a hall next to the stair case.
“Sorry about the mess,” she said lighting up her horn and trotting over, “I forgot you were coming today”
“It’s no problem Miss Scratch,” I said, taking my back right hoof out of a puddle of something.
“Call me Vinyl everypony else does,” she said walking over and picking up the energy drink can with her magic and took a swig. “Want some?” she asked offering it to me.
“I’m good,” I subconsciously backed up from the can.
She shrugged and took another swig, “c’mon let me show you your pad.”
She trotted over to the stair case lighting the way with her horn. I followed her up the stairs, glancing at pictures on the walls of, I assumed, her as a filly with her parents.
“My parents moved out of here a couple of years ago,” she explained, “I really don’t need a roommate, but I like the company. My old roommate, Octavia, moved out. Something about a gig in Vanhoover, and won’t be back for two years. How long are you going to be staying anyway?”
“A couple of months,” I guessed since that was how long I had stayed in most places.
“Dang, I wish you could stay longer. If it’s about the money, like I said, I just want the company.”
“I travel around a lot.”
“Oh, I hear ya,” Vinyl laughed “I was the same way for a few years until I set up my club.” She took out a set of keys and inserted one into the door at the top of the stairs
I smiled as I stepped into the room. Bare oak floors greeted me like a blank sheet of paper. The ceiling was high, twice as high as a regular ceiling. The curtained windows wrapped around the far right corner. In the same corner, a comfortable looking bed rested and a stream of sunlight lay across the blue sheets like a strand of gold thread. There was no other furniture in the room, but faint outlines showed where they used to be.
“It’s perfect,” I said smiling, “You mind if I open the curtains?”
“Nah, dude, go ahead,” she said tapping her glasses with her hoof, “I’m good.”
“What are you, a vampire?” I asked jokingly, opening the curtains with my magic at the same time.
“No, I just spend a lot of time on my computer; you know, writing songs and stuff.”
“What kind of songs?” I asked intrigued. I had sold a few songs to small time bands in the past, if they really liked them they tended to pay a lot.
“Dub step”
“Oh.” From my reaction you’d think I hated dub step but I actually like dub step, but the fact it didn’t have any words in it made it really hard to sell lyrics so I was a little disappointed.
“What? You got something against the wubs?” She said tipped her sunglasses down her nose and raised her eyebrows.
“No…no it’s nothing,” I said not wanting to explain. “I actually really like dub step.”
She smiled and pushed her glasses up her nose all the way. “Then you won’t mind the couple of bass cannons I got lyin’ around?” She smiled sinisterly as if it were an evil plan to dominate the world.
“Fire away,” I chuckled.
“Sweet. Hey you should check out my club Tavi really didn’t like it, but she’s a little ‘uptight’ but you seem like a pretty chill unicorn. Whadaya say?”
I shrugged and nodded, “Sure It sounds like fun. Anyway, I’ll try anything once.”
“Love that attitude bro,” She held out her hoof which I bumped with my own, “maybe you’d even like to try sushi; most ponies won’t eat it because it’s fish. You don’t mind fish right?”
“I’ve had it before,” I said a little confused.
“Yeah, we’re going to get along just fine,” She started walking out the door, “Bathrooms down the hall on the left. Holler if you need anything. I’ll be asleep downstairs.” She shut the door behind her as she walked out.
I smiled as I looked around at the room’s pale blue walls. I was going to like it here.