EVENT EIGHT: Going Home
The second that the digital clock switched to 5:00, Grace threw the “CLOSED” sign onto her desk and let out a sigh of relief. After dealing with annoying customers, whiny brats and her boss yelling at her every other hour, this was the best thing that had happened to her today. Finally, she could go home, relax and get the rest she needed and deserved. She grabbed her purse from up off of the floor and slung it on. The concert tickets from Baymont fell out, and she frowned.
She had until Sunday to think it over--
“So, how was your day?” Coco asked.
Surprised at the fact that her friend was suddenly there, Grace stammered and shoved the tickets back into her purse. “The usual,” she grumbled. “Y’know, nothin’ special. You?”
Coco had a bittersweet smile on her expression. “Not bad at all,” she mused.
“Manewitz! Pommel!” the boss called. “You ain’t leavin’ early, are ya?”
“It’s five o’ clock somewhere!” Grace argued. She looked to Coco and motioned towards the door. “Let’s blow this popsicle stand b’fore he yells at us some more,” she muttered.
“I don’t take backtalk that easy, Manewitz!” the boss screamed after them as they left.
Grace made a blah-blah motion with her hoof, and rolled her eyes. Coco stifled out a giggle and smirked ever-so-slightly. The two friends made their way down the city block, enjoying the strange harmony that was part of Manehattan in the early evening: ponies weren’t rushing as much as they were in the morning, the lights and signs lit up the city in a luminescent glow, and while it was noisy, it was sort of calming to those who were used to it.
“Well, looks like we gotta suffer the subway,” Grace muttered as they passed a newspaper stand and noticed the glaring headline on one of the papers.
Equestria Daily
Monday, June 23rd, 2014 C.E.MANEHATTAN TAXI COMPANY SHUT DOWN
With so many workers on strike due to being paid unfair wages, the company has fired all of the employees. Residents of the city will have to rely on other modes of public transportation to get to work until the company reopens.
[read more on page twelve]
Coco frowned. “Is it like a train?” she asked.
Grace shrugged. “Kinda,” she said. “You’ll see for yourself.”
Coco let out a sigh. “Now you have me worried,” she replied.
“Ah, don’t you worry,” Grace laughed. “It’s actually kind of entertaining.” She noticed a stairwell heading underground over by a storefront. “Prepare yourself. You can either find the subway terrible or hilarious.”
“Well then,” Coco mumbled, with a wary expression as she followed her friend down the steps.
So far, it didn’t look very funny: the walls on the staircase were covered in muck and grime, with the occasional graffiti saying something explicit. The railings seemed to be dripping wet and covered in gum, which made Coco wrinkle her nose in disgust. She raised an eyebrow when she noticed the directions sign had various letters scraped off: it was a miracle that ponies could still read it.
“Looks like we’re takin’ 583,” Grace said. “Keep an eye out for it, all of the trains look the same.”
Coco nodded, but paid no attention to the locomotives revving through the station. Instead, she was more concerned about the scenery around her. In the corner near the snack bar, somepony was playing the guitar, badly. A broken baby carriage was lying next to the check in / check out desk and a group of teenagers sat on a bench, passing around a bottle and laughing obnoxiously loud. For a moment, Coco almost felt concerned for her safety.
Grace nudged her friend. “Don’t worry, I got pepper spray in my bag,” she muttered. “But after all of the times I’ve attacked these losers, they know not to mess with me.”
Coco went a new shade of white: if that was possible and she gulped.
A sudden screeching was heard, and then, the whole underground shook violently as a metal locomotive pulled up. It’s horn blared, echoing loud enough possibly for those up above to hear.
“Passengers for Downtown Manehattan, all aboard!”
“That’s us,” Grace said, as she coughed. “Damn subway trains. Dunno what the Princesses were thinking, using oil for these things. It’s disgusting.” She led Coco onto the locomotive and held a hoof in front of her friend. “Whatever you do, don’t sit on the seats. Trust me, standing still for half an hour is worth it.”
Suddenly, as if on cue, somepony else who boarded the train let out a loud shriek, and immediately began brushing themself off. Grace and Coco turned around, to see a mare wiping something off of her purple vest and trying to comb her blonde tail back to normal.
“Disgusting, absolutely disgusting,” she muttered.
“Gonna bet five bits she sat in vomit,” Grace winced.
Coco hesitated. “A-are you sure we can’t walk home?” she inquired.
Grace snorted. “And risk getting mugged? No thanks. Pepper spray only works against drunks and hobos, not thieves,” she retorted. She tapped Coco on the shoulder. “You’ll get used to it.”
Coco slightly pouted but her expression quickly dropped as the locomotive started speeding off.
“Hold on,” Grace chuckled as she grabbed one of the handles dangling from the ceiling.
However, Coco let out a loud squeak and nearly fell forward, if she didn’t grab the nearby pole. Her face was inches away from the floor, and she frowned at the muck and grime on the metal tiles. She pulled herself up and stood on shaky legs while the subway train rumbled through the underground. The ponies traveling with them was certainly a strange lot: mixed in with homeless-looking folk, high-class business executives and everypony else in between. She felt nausea and lightheadedness overcome her emotions as the train began to sway, taking every turn possible. If the seats didn’t look so filthy, she would have sat down…
...but then, suddenly, the whole train shook in an unnatural way, causing some ponies to fall out of the seats or trip over their own two hooves.
Grace was one of those poor, unfortunate souls, and she peeled herself off of the disgusting floor. “Hey, buddy!” she called to the train driver. “Quit sleepin’ at the wheel if you wanna stay outta jail!” She brushed herself off, and wrinkled her nose. “Ew, I’m gonna need a long shower to get rid of this shi-” She was cut off by a loud buzzing noise, and something flew right in front of her face. “Stupid bugs.” She waved her hoof to swat the creature away, but it only got louder.
“I don’t like the subway,” Coco muttered, as she leaned up against the pole she was holding onto.
“Me and you both,” Grace sighed. She continued swatting away the ‘bug’, but a loud sound of discomfort -- something between a squeal and a groan -- slipped past her lips when it landed on her nose. “Oh, yuck, what are you?”
A loud squeaking, buzzing like noise, followed by gibberish escaped the creature, and Grace flicked it off.
“Creepy little bastard,” she mumbled, watching the insect-like thing flutter off. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Coco bending over, and swaying ever-so-slightly. “You better not puke on me.”
“You never told me it would be this bad,” Coco practically whined.
Now, she was looking more green than white…
Grace frowned. “First time is always the worst,” she admitted, with a shrug. “You get used to it.”
However, Coco said nothing, and when the train stopped at a screeching halt, the doors opened, and she bolted out -- not even caring if this wasn’t her stop. Worried for her friend’s well-being, Grace dashed out after Coco and stopped suddenly when she noticed her friend crouched over a trash-can, vomiting.
With a wince, Grace hesitantly stepped forward and patted Coco on the back.
“Maybe walking home would have been a better idea,” she muttered.