//------------------------------// // A Night in Manehattan // Story: Life, Death, and Ponies // by thunderclap //------------------------------// You scrubbed yourself desperately in a futile hope to make yourself feel clean. Once your body started to burn from the friction of your scrubbing you decided to just give up and let the water cascade on your fur for a moment or so. This had been your third shower and yet you still didn’t feel any cleaner than when you started. Applejack had been true to her word and had enough chores to keep an army busy for a month lined up for you. Earlier that day you had to clean out the pig pens and unfortunately you had fallen into the muck. You were up to your neck in what you hoped was only mud, but you knew it wasn’t. Somehow you’d managed to crawl out of the pen, but Applejack made you finish up in there before letting you clean yourself off. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever be clean again.’ You thought with a shudder. ‘Applejack has given me all of the crap work around the farm for two weeks now. And the worst part is that I couldn’t use my magic for any of it. Oh well, at least it’s over now. And I learned my lesson, don’t get caught being reckless ever again.’ You finished with a smirk. You finished your shower and walked into your room started to think about what to do with the rest of your day. In the end you just decided to wander around town for a bit. The town was as peaceful as when you had first walked into it over a month ago. The only difference now seemed to be that you fit into everything. You knew most of the ponies and had an idea on what was going on with their lives. You smiled for a while at this. You had changed so much since you had come to Equestria; and in more than the obvious way of your body. You still missed your old world a little, but not as much as you had. You shook all of those thoughts out of your head and just started to focus on what you should do with your free time. But before you could, you noticed Rarity was heading your way. “Why hello there, darling.” Rarity called out to you. “What are you up to today?” “Hey Rarity,” you replied, “not much I was just trying to find something to do.” “That’s good to hear. I have an offer for you. Would you care to hear about it?” “Uh sure.” You answered, starting to feel uneasy with the way she was looking at you. “What’s your offer?” “I received an invitation to attend a pristine dinner party in Manehattan, and since the invitation had a plus one attachment, I figured I’d take you with me.” “When is this dinner party?” “It’s in three days.” “I don’t know Rarity. Applejack just forgave me for my last little excursion out of Ponyville.” “Applejack was angry because you put yourself in the hospital. If you’re with me then you won’t have a chance to get into any trouble.” Rarity finished with an underlying edge of a threat in her voice. “Okay, but why me? Isn’t there anypony better suited for something like this?” “I couldn’t think of anypony better if I tried. This party is a chance for me to impress all sorts of ponies and others that could showcase my clothes all over the world. And seeing as you lived with the princesses you have experience dealing with a high-class environment.” “Twilight lived in Canterlot longer than I did. Wouldn’t she be better to bring along than me?” “True, but Twilight doesn’t have the artistic side that you do. Plus, it’d be better if I brought a stallion as my plus one. If I took Twilight some ponies might get the wrong idea.” “So you want me to pretend to be your coltfriend?” You asked, your cheeks burning red. “Uh sorry Rarity, but I think I have to um… wash my mane, so I can’t make it.” You stuttered before turning and walking away. You only managed to get a few feet away before she called out to you. “I get it; you can’t even make time to help me accomplish the dream I’ve had ever since I was a foal. This could be the greatest chance I’ll ever get. I’ll just stick with being a small time fashion designer.” You stopped and let your shoulders droop while she continued to guilt-trip you. “Fine, I’ll go to Manehattan with you.” “Oh thank you Blackstar!” Rarity squealed as she wrapped her hooves around you in a massive hug. “You won’t regret this!” ‘I already do.’ You thought. “Now come on we need to get you ready and presentable before we leave for the party.” “And what will that entail?” “We have to take you to the spa to give you a full body and hoof treatment. Then, we’re going to a salon and get your mane done, and then we have to get you fitted for a tux!” Rarity happily chirped as she led you through the streets of Ponyville. ‘Oh yeah, I’m definitely regretting this.’ Getting ready wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be. It was still bad. Just not absolute torture like you thought it would be. The spa was probably the worst. Getting rubbed down by two mares was extremely awkward, although, you did have to fight the stylist at the salon over your mane. For once in your life you had long hair and you weren’t going to let some jerk with scissors take that from you. In the end you finally were what Rarity called “presentable” and she took you to the carriage that would take the two of you to Manehattan. You let out a deep breath that you weren’t aware you had been holding. You let your eyes wander back up towards Rarity’s. The two of you had been on the road for a few hours now. You chastised yourself for getting so embarrassed. It was only Rarity. She was only scary if you spilled something on one of her outfits, or if you messed up her mane. “What’s wrong, darling? I’m not going to bite you or anything.” “Sorry, I guess I’m not used to being alone with a mare in a closed space like this.” “Don’t worry about it. Actually, I have something that might help.” Rarity said, using her magic to pull out a bottle of champagne and two glasses, which she proceeded to fill. “Here, this should help you relax.” As soon as your eyes fell on the bottle your mind flashed to when you were a child living with your father and all of his worst moments. Even down to when he took his life. *Bang* “Blackstar? Blackstar, Blackstar, are you okay?!” Rarity called out. “Sorry… my mind just drifted away there for a second there.” “Um, Blackstar, are you crying?” You brought a hoof up to your eye and sure enough there was moisture. “I guess I was.” You said slowly. “What were you thinking about? Do you want to talk about it?” “Thanks, but don’t worry about it. I’m already over it.” “Did that have something to do with the drinks because I can put them away?” “No, it had nothing to with the drinks. It’s just that when I’m stressed my mind tends to wander, and it looks like it wandered to a bad place this time.” You answered, which wasn’t entirely a lie. “Okay, well you never did answer if you wanted one of these.” “I don’t think it would be a good idea for a seventeen year old like me to be getting into alcohol.” “Wait a minute,” Rarity said, taken aback. “You’re only seventeen?” “Yeah, didn’t I ever tell you? Does it really surprise you?” “No, you never told us, although that does explain quite a bit.” “What do you mean?” “How you go from being so mature to a total foal sometimes.” “I do not act like a foal.” You replied with an overdramatic huff. “I’m the most masculine stallion ever. Could a foal beat up an entire gang of Diamond Dogs?” “You just proved my point.” Rarity said with a giggle. The rest of the trip was much better. Rarity seemed to forget about your little outburst, or maybe she was just pretending to. Either way, you were more relaxed for the rest of the ride. Early the next morning the two of you made it to the hotel that Rarity and you would be staying in during your stay in Manehattan. The rest of your day was spent taking in the sights and going to various museums. You and Rarity had a lot of fun and you impressed Rarity with your knowledge on art. The next night you and Rarity went to the dinner party. The party was in an expensive loft overlooking the city. You made your way through the crowd and introduced yourself to various high-class ponies and griffons. At some point Rarity led you to a group of other ponies and griffons and told you that they were some of the biggest names in the world when it came to fashion. “So Blackstar, was it? What do you do for a living?” A stallion named Fancypants asked. “Nothing much at the moment. Really, I’m sort of a professional student. I study any and all magic I can get my hooves on and master it. “Are you any good?” A random mare asked. “Blackstar was a student to the princesses.” Rarity answered. “That’s very impressive. I hadn’t heard that the princesses had taken on another student.” A griffon replied. “I don’t believe you.” A random snooty mare proclaimed. “I mean, you expect me to believe that this little colt here was good enough to be trained by the princesses? Why don’t you prove it?” “And how do you expect me to do that?” You asked, annoyed at the mare for her attitude. “Give us a little demonstration of your magic.” “Now that sounds like fun. Fancypants said. “Go ahead; show us a little of what you can do.” You looked to Rarity to see if she could talk the group out of this, but instead she just gave you a supportive nod. You racked your brain for any ideas of what you could do to impress the high class ponies. You looked back at Rarity again and suddenly a bolt of inspiration hit you. You sparked up your horn and levitated all of the punch out of the bowl, and had it hover over the center of the room. Dissatisfied with the amount of liquid under your control, you started to take people’s drinks. Once the sphere of liquid was to your liking you created a giant ice sculpture of Rarity in her dress with a large air pocket in its center. You weren’t done yet though, you sent out a large surge of ultraviolet light into the air pocket of the statue. Using what you knew about physics you used the ultraviolet light to create a miniature aurora borealis inside the ice sculpture. “Does that prove anything? Or do I have to do something else?” You asked the speechless ponies you had been talking to. “I think that little demonstration will suffice.” Fancypants said with a chuckle. “How did you manage to pull all of that off?” “Most of the spells I used were actually fairly simple. It just helps to have a beautiful and talented mare like Rarity to inspire you.” You said indicating Rarity. “I see, well if that’s the case then I’d say she must be one incredible mare to inspire all that.” “I think you should talk to her about that. She has a lot of ideas that I’m sure you’d like to hear about.” The evening continued and everything seemed to be going well. Rarity was hitting it off with all of the fashion representatives and others. That was until, “Well Blackstar, you’re one of the most interesting ponies I’ve ever met.” Hoity Toity said. “The only thing I could criticize is that ratty old bag you have slung up on your back.” “This bag was my father’s, excuse me for a moment.” You said, as calmly as you could, and teleported out of the room. You appeared in the middle of the balcony behind the loft and opened the bottle of champagne that you had swiped from the party and brought it to your lips. It took time for you to adjust to the taste but you muddled through and pretty soon almost half the bottle was gone. You sat on the railing that overlooked the city, opened your bag, and brought out the envelope that contained your father’s suicide note. You nearly bore holes in it with the intensity of your stare. After a few minutes of staring you heard the door to the balcony open. You didn’t bother to turn around; you weren’t in the mood to talk with anyone. “Blackstar are you out here darling?” “Uh huh, now please leave.” You said, taking a drink from the bottle of champagne. “Are you drinking that whole bottle?! That’s way too much for somepony as young as you!” “Look, I’m angry, and depressed, and I need something to drown out the conflicting emotions, now leave.” You snapped bitterly. “Now I really can’t let you have that.” Rarity replied, levitating the bottle away from you. “Heavy drinking and extreme emotions is a poor mix.” You immediately teleported the bottle back to you and glared at Rarity. “You’re not my mother Rarity! You can’t control what I do!” Rarity was taken aback by your outburst, but her expression took on a more tender feel to it and walked right up to you and started stroking your mane. There wasn’t anything romantic to the gesture, it was just, comforting. That and the serene glint in her icy blue eyes sent you back to when you were a child and how your mother would comfort you after a particularly difficult day. Then, tears came unbidden to your eyes. “Dammit, why am I blubbering like a baby?” “You’re an emotional drunk darling. These things happen. Now, what made you do all this?” “I started to think about my dad, and that always causes a mess in my head.” “Why don’t you and your father get along?” “Let’s just say he’s the reason that I moved around so much. He couldn’t get over something and instead of trying to deal with it, he just ran away from his problems.” “And you’re not doing that right now by drowning your sorrows in spirits?” “At least I usually try to solve my problems. This is just an etrenua… extre… this is special.” You answered with a frown. “I’m only teasing, darling. Listen, maybe you should try to reconcile with him. It’s not healthy to have this kind of grudge with your family.” “I wouldn’t know where to find him.” You lied. “He’s probably still moving all over the place. Damn, alcohol makes me talk a lot.” “I know it’s a healthy change of pace.” Rarity said with a chortle. “I’m sorry that things are so tough between you and your father.” “It’s okay, everypony in Ponyville is like my family now: you, Rainbow Dash, and especially the Apple family. Rarity, I’m sleepy.” “Don’t worry darling, just get some rest.” Rarity helped pull you down from the ledge and laid your head down in her lap. You looked up into Rarity’s eyes and felt a dopey, alcohol induced grin spread across your face. And with the smell of liquor and Rarity’s perfume mingling in the air, you drifted off into a state of unconsciousness.