A rush of ponies and other Equestrians moved in and out of the train as I leaned against a glass pane at the foremost carriage. I looked up a clock that was hung from a brick wall. 8:14; the morning was still young. It shouldn’t have taken Grey Thorn too long to come out, but I found myself caught up in the sheer volume of colors; ads; and display windows that had been strategically positioned and built to catch the attention of wandering eyes. The flashing electronic ads were all about wear this, eat this, join this and even report this.
“Out of the way!” A gust of wind pass my ears. A brown earth pony and a grey pegasus, rushed out of the carriage. I could hear the earth pony mutter under his breath, “And this is what I get for losing it.”
A few steps ahead of them, a young papercolt selling the news to passbyers turned around, only to be shoved to the side, not knowing what hit him. The two ponies kept rushing out of the station through the glass door exits. The colt lifted his hooves for balance but his papers and bits were scattered on the floor.
Seeing as I had nothing better thing to do, I moved up to him shuffling the papers back in a pile and helping him to redeposit his bits. He thanked me as I handed it back to him, but just as I was about to leave, a familiar image caught my eye. Before I was about to get a closer look, he turned around and continued selling papers. Walking back to the carriage, I shook my head, thinking it was just my eyes playing tricks on me.
***
Seconds flew by,
then a minute,
And soon enough ten minutes had passed,
and then thirty minutes soon elapsed.
I lifted my head up to the clock again. 8:51
“Grey Thorn, where are you?”
The platform was then completely bare. Everyone, including the papercolt who had ran out of papers, was either in the train waiting as a new set of staff prepared the train for a trip to Las Pegasus or had left the station preparing for the day. I blew a raspberry as my patience took its toll.
A hoof lightly tapped my shoulder. I jumped, choking a little on my saliva.
“Are you Smoulder?” The attendance pegasus from before asked.
Getting my breath back, I replied with a nod of my head.
“Sir, said to give you this.” She raised her hoof to give me a brown leather wallet. I grabbed it, looking at its fine detail of every stitch and marks but before I could ask her where Grey Thorn was, she left out of sight. I sighed.
Opening the wallet, there were folds over flowing with bit notes, probably enough for me to buy all the cider in Equestria. Except one of the folds had a piece of yellow paper sticking out. I pull it out and read it.
Here you will have to go on your own.
Even though our species has been isolated for so
long, I have every confidence that you will succeed.
Peddle forward and don’t give up.
Make sure to blend in with the crowd, just like our revered queen taught you.
Everyling is counting on you, Smoulder.
A hole opened up inside of me as I read the last sentence. I scrunched up the note in my hoof.
“What the buck, what the buck, what the buck!” I screamed inside my head as I stared at the paper in disbelief It didn’t make any sense. It made no bucking sense. Gray wasn’t a changeling who would just ditch another changeling. “This has to be a joke.” But it wasn’t, even after the train left at nine o’clock sharp, he still didn’t appear.
My hair cast a shadow over my eyes. I swallowed hard, irately accepting the truth.
For the second time in my life, I stood there … alone. With no one to guide me through this endless maze. A music piece that never ended.
Biting my tongue, I moved forward towards the glass doors of the station. Sunlight shined on my hooves. I started to doubt if indeed I had met Grey or if it was just a dream. It could have just been the monster inside me playing tricks on me but it wouldn’t explain the existence of the wallet or the note.
Nevertheless, I entered the streets of Manehattan trying to put on a better face.
My new life awaited me.
***
From every possible view Manehattan was breathtaking. Homes that were three to six stories high, businesses that ripped through the skies and a Starbucks at every corner.
I stop and watch in awe at the sheer number of ponies and griffons flying overhead, and overwhelmed at the sight of the crowded streets and sidewalks. And there were hundreds…no, thousands of them. All manner of shapes, sizes, colors, and hues almost resembling a rainbow colored river that flowed across the pavement.
I couldn’t stop grinning as I wandered through the hoofpath.
And it felt wonderful.
I didn’t have anywhere in mind as I walked through Manehattan. So many new sights, sounds and smells. I almost even forgot that I was an outcast here… which … scared me for a second.
The whole day was spent sightseeing. Occupied in my activities, I barely noticed that Luna was about to raise the moon. Only with street lights turning on did I noticed that I was, practically homeless.
My eventful day suddenly became an almost frantic search for a proper roof over my head. There were many apartments in Manehattan, but it was almost impossible to find one that didn’t send me into bankruptcy instantly. I was surprised on how inflation had affected Equestria with my money buying all the cider in Equestria turning into just a few pints of apple juice.
But soon fate smiled upon me that night as I was able to find an apartment complex that gave the first week free, provided I put down a small deposit at first, which only cost me an adequate fraction of my bits. And so, as I gave the manager the bits, he handed me the keys. I took the lift to the third floor, emerged to a carpeted hallway and found room forty nine.
And with the swipe of my key card, I was ‘home’.
It wasn’t anything fancy: a single bedroom with a small lamp and digital clock on a table, opened to a window facing the streets below, a small kitchen storing complementary grain, seeds and oat. Including a few pots, pans and other kitchen utensils. And an even smaller bathroom having a bath, toilet and sink.
All and all, the room was okay, though it was looked old enough to be dated back to the founding of Canterlot, though it was many times better than what I had before. But … never before ‘that’. Sigh.
Anyways, I decided to take a quick bath as I was feeling a little under the weather. And apparently, a quick bath turned out to take thirty minutes. Hot water sprinkled upon my fur and it was the best sensation I had in my entire life. You try living out in the dusty desert trying to eke out your survival on a daily basis. Yeah, that’s what I thought. Tartarus take the lot of your tenderhooves. I didn’t know if getting an hour more sleep on the bed after sleeping so long on dirt and rocks was more preferable, or a thirty minute shower was the more desired. No more freezing cold baths and smelling like an eviscerated decomposing body.
I had everything set up in my new home. With no appliances or televisions, there wasn’t much for me to do, but I didn’t mind. I was still riding high on the excitement of a new home. Sleep didn’t come until late at night, for I laid upon my bed and looked out the window to the sky and towers beyond. All the possibilities it held.
For that day, I was in a position that few changelings had: I could wake up in the morning, and shape a completely new life for myself. I had no ties to the past, no responsibilities to pull me down. I could do anything I wanted. Anything at all.
The endless possibilities would have overwhelmed any other changeling, but not me. For I knew exactly what I had come here to do.
I needed to get a job, first and foremost. Living I this city wasn’t going to come cheap.
But I had a deeper purpose in coming to Manehattan. My ambitions were not to leave my queen to writ in water… no, my ambitions were far grander, and beyond the common, ordinary dreams of my former brethren.
But my grand designs would have to wait until morning. I was tired, and once I laid in bed, I enjoyed the rest.
At that moment, I was still like a seed; tiny and ordinary. But I was about to take hold and spread my roots.
And once that was accomplished, no force on heaven or earth would stop me.
***
I ruffled between my bedsheets and blanket. Getting up I took a look at my clock. 12:06 AM. I’d been rolling around the bed for almost over two hours and black bags hung under my eyes. I groaned as I got up to look at the streets below, still as busy as ever. I guess it was true that the city never sleeps at night.
It wasn’t too loud or anything that kept me awake, but I couldn’t place my hoof on it. I felt as though my hooves were about to give out under my body weight. Rolling onto my back, I stared blankly at the ceiling. Though I still wasn’t able to fall asleep.
And then it landed on me like a ton of bricks.
Slowly sliding off the bed with my blanket, I rested my back against the cold hard wooden floors. And before I could properly set the blanket, my mind drifted off to a dream.