With the rhythmic clang of metal underfoot and the obnoxious wailing filly in the next set of seats along, Sapphire May’s headache was only getting worse. In an attempt to remedy it, she lifted her eyes from the newspaper in front of her, gazed solemnly out of the window to her left and massaged her temples with her front hooves.
Hills of patchwork yellow and green rolled by under a baby blue sky. It would be perfect, if it wasn’t for the black and worryingly noxious looking smoke billowing out of the train and beginning to form dark clouds in the near sky. Managing to phase out entirely, Sapphire gazed out to the horizon as far as she could see, leaning her head casually on one hoof with her face almost pressed against the sooty wind screen.
Ponyville.
What will it be like?
Peaceful, I hope.
And quiet.
Quiet enough to get on with my work without any more interruptions…
Or headaches…
Startled, Sapphire leapt out her seat when she felt a hoof gently prodding her back.
“Miss… Miss…? We’ve arrived at Ponyville, is this your stop?”
Sapphire spun around in her seat, and clumsily attempted to wipe the cloudiness out of her eyes.
When had I fallen asleep? How long have I been asleep for?
“Miss? Are you alright?”
Focusing back in, Sapphire gazed at the young stallion in front of her, so young he was barely out of colt-hood. He was dressed in the familiar red and white uniform of the train’s staff, which matched well with his iron grey coat.
There was no rhythmic clanging of metal and no wailing children… just complete silence. The train had stopped. Had she missed her stop?
“Where am I?” Sapphire asked the young stallion in panic, gazing out of the window briefly to double check that the train had indeed stopped.
“You’re in Ponyville, Miss.” He answered, diligently.
Sapphire gave him an appreciative smile to indicate that she was now fine and appreciative of his efforts to help her and with a responding nod, the young stallion continued down the train carriage. She slid her bags on to her back and stood. Walking down the carriage, she found two doors, and stepped out on to the wooden train platform. Sapphire took in a deep breath of country air, then coughed violently when she realised she’d breathed in the black smoke from the train. Regaining her composure, she raised her head to the sky.
The sun is past half way, it must be noon….
Sapphire was going to rent a room on top of a flower shop, or so she’d been told. There was no way it would be big enough for her work, but it would be perfectly adequate as a living space. All of her main baggage should already have arrived there.
Now if only I could remember the instructions to find the flower shop…
Sighing heavily and lowering her head back down, she trotted off of the train platform and onto a dirt path.
Sapphire gasped as for the first time she noticed the quaint creamy yellow and pink houses, the busy market, the whistling birds, the tall town hall, the strange assortment of buildings representing anything from a jester’s hat to a tree and the great stretching fields of apple trees.
Her eyes hurriedly glanced from one strange building to another as she walked forward, slowly placing one hoof before the other. It was a picturesque countryside town, just like she’d imagined when she’d been told to move there from Canterlot.
A painful sounding gasp drew Sapphire’s attention to a rather glamorous white unicorn in the corner of her eye. Sapphire turned to face the mare, who’s front left leg was placed delicately across her face as if she was about to faint.
“
Oh my…. What a disaster!” She exclaimed in a melodramatic voice. Her blue eyes were gazing into the distant sky, but Sapphire still got the sense that she was talking to her.
These kinds of dramatics were something Sapphire wasn’t at all used to, but the rest of the Ponies in the town continued their business as if none of this was happening.
The white unicorn, returning all her feet to the ground, approached Sapphire, with an expression which showed both pain and shock. Sapphire could reciprocate at least one of those feelings; maybe both, since her headache seemed to be making an unwanted reappearance.
The unicorn grabbed a lock of Sapphire’s turquoise blue mane with her hoof and proceeded to look it over with expert precision, to which Sapphire was quite taken aback. The unicorn was determined not to let her go, though, no matter how hard she tried to back away from the clearly ‘mentally loose’ pony. The unicorn was focusing so hard on her mane, Sapphire was sure her hair was about to catch on fire.
“When was the last time you had this professionally cut?” The unicorn said, not daring to remove her intense stare from Sapphire’s mane.
Sapphire was shocked by the intrusiveness of this complete stranger. She also didn’t want to reveal that she wasn’t sure if she’d ever had it professionally cut.
“I’m… I’m not sure.” Sapphire replied, trying to draw her head away while blushing intensely.
“When was the last time you visited a spa?”
Sapphire was now starting to suspect that maybe this unicorn was planning on trying to sell her some kind of hair product. Something she didn’t want. Meanwhile usually it wasn’t quite so… forward, this kind of thing did occur often in Canterlot. She decided to put off her assailant with a white lie.
“Every week.” She replied with a nervous grin.
“Now my dear, don’t lie to me, I think it’s questionable over whether you even brush your hair once a week.”
Quite insulted, and with her mouth agape at this pony’s bluntness, Sapphire pulled her head away hard to try and loosen her mane from the unicorns grips.
“No! You’re ruining it further! You must come with me! I can help you!” She exclaimed, fighting back by pulling Sapphire’s mane towards her.
“I don’t want to buy your hair products!” Sapphire shouted, and yanked even harder.
“For free! I’ll help you for free! I can’t stand to see a pony like this!” She screamed.
Sapphire and this rather eccentric unicorn were now stuck in a tug of war with each other, neither side willing to give in.
“Leave that young mare alone, Rarity.” A female Southern American accent said.
The white unicorn, who must be Rarity, responded by immediately letting go of her mane, causing her to go tumbling backwards and her bag to go flying off her back. As Sapphire got back on her feet, the two ponies, the white unicorn Rarity and the new pony, a light orange earth pony sporting a plait and a cowboy hat, conversed as if she wasn’t there.
“But… but… her mane! I know you wouldn’t understand such things Applejack… but, her mane!”
“I understand that your need to purty up ponies is like ma need to buck apples, Rarity, but I could really do with a favour.”
Rarity sighed deeply, took one last longing look at Sapphire’s mane and then trotted off with the other pony, who must have been Applejack.
Sapphire watched the two ponies trot away from just outside the train station, and eventually disappear round a corner, and stood still for a second, rather confused at what just happened. Shaking her head as if trying to forget the recent events, she plodded further into town, a bit disheartened.
What’s wrong with my mane?
Sure, I never really take care of it.
Or keep it neat.
But I keep it clean… and there’s nothing distinctly wrong with it…
“Oh, and you must be… Sapphire May?”
Sapphire looked up, forgetting her troubles and focused on the pony smiling at her to her left s. The pony was standing outside of a flower shop.
Good job that pony recognised me, or I would have got hopelessly lost here.
Which would be embarrassing, since I grew up in a city…
How could a city pony get lost in a countryside town?
Trying yet again to banish her troubling thoughts, Sapphire smiled back, and began to approach her. The pony was light pink with puffy green hair, with two daises as her cutie mark. Seeing her cutie mark helpfully reminded her of her new landlord’s name: Daisy.
“And you must be Daisy?” Sapphire replied back.
The pink pony nodded her head with a wider grin, seemingly pleased her name had been remembered.
“Your things arrived earlier, and a few nearby stallions helped me take them to your new room. Would you like me to show you where it is?” She said, turning around and indicating the door to her flower shop with her right hoof.
Some nearby stallions helped take my stuff to my room? How neighbourly… you wouldn’t get that in Canterlot unless you paid for it…
Realising her thoughts were drifting off again, she refocused on Daisy and the conversation.
“Yes, thank you, that’d be most helpful.” Sapphire replied, nodding keenly, and she took a few strides towards the door.