Moon Sailor had a peculiar sleep pattern. If she knew that she had to get up to go to work and make a delivery, she would wake up and force herself out of bed. But if she was off or had a late shift, she would lay there for close to an hour, and even when she did get up she was groggy for a while.
When she woke up, it took her a moment to remember that Sour Sweet had slept at her place the night before, and might in fact be up already. So she swung her legs over the side of the bed, spread her wings for balance, and hit the floor.
By serendipity, Sour was walking out of the guest bedroom. Her mane was in her eyes, and she had to stop to brush it out of the way. “Morning,” she said.
“Hi. How did you sleep?”
“Good. Better than the night before. Except that I’m hungry. Any chance of breakfast?”
“I figured we’d be at Little’s for breakfast,” Moon said. “She’ll probably have everypony there just like yesterday.”
“Then we’ll get a good meal. Don’t know about the company though.”
Moon showed her how to use the bathtub. Sour had some difficulty cleaning herself, but Moon assured her that so long as she didn’t stink it would be fine. Once they got out on the road, they would be washing in rivers and lakes anyway. Then the two of them flew upwards to Reggie and Little’s place, Moon still watching to be ready to catch Sour at any time. They let themselves in through the French doors.
Garlic was already at work in the kitchen. He waved to Sour who returned the briefest of smiles. Little was setting up fresh pillows all around the low table. Sour took one nearest the window and plopped onto it.
“Eat heartily,” Little said. “We won’t have this nice a meal for a while.”
A big stack of pancakes was placed in front of Sour, and Garlic watched her eagerly to see how she would eat. He saw that she was having difficulty with the knife and fork.
“Do you want me to cut them up for you?”
Sour looked up. “That would be such a fatherly gesture! But since I’m not a child…” She wrapped her hoof around the fork, stabbed the top pancake all the way through, and folded it into her mouth.
Garlic looked over at Little, who gave a reassuring shrug. She abandoned magic to eat her own stack with knife and fork.
When everything was done, Sour wiped her mouth with the napkin and let Little float everything to the sink. “So, are we all ready to go? No one needs to use the facilities first?”
“Can we walk down to the cart?” asked Moon.
“No! I’ve been waiting for this.” Little bounced onto her pillow, still at the breakfast table. Sour was starting to get up, but Little waved her down. “I had this put in a while ago.”
Reggie and Moon rolled their eyes. Even Garlic gave a heaving breath. Only Little seemed excited as she cast a spell on the wall to Sour’s left. Although the glow started as Little’s characteristic blue color, it changed to white as the wall seemed to take on a life of its own. A panel slid away and ten long wires serpentined out toward the seated ponies.
Little watched Sour to make sure she wouldn’t fly off her pillow, but she seemed to be following along. The wires split up, two to a pony, and slipped themselves through the loops in the pillows. Once they were in place it was the pillows themselves that moved, sliding along the wires like a roller coaster. The wall had continued to iris outward, making it big enough for all the ponies to fit in the alcove that formed. Once the seated ponies were ensconced, the wall closed up again. The light was faint and artificial.
The tinkling sound of magic was all that was heard as everypony felt the force of gravity drop them. Little was still making sure Sour was OK, but she was clearly used to elevators. After a minute, the wall again opened, this time to reveal that they were at the very top of the parking garage. Again the wires extended, this time with much more speed so that nopony could see where they went. But they all sat patiently as their pillows were dragged out and the formation changed from a single line to a two-two-one pattern. Like a roller-coaster, they descended rapidly toward the cart before finally being nestled into the hay that was laid out the night before. After that, the wires receded into the darkness.
“Had your fun, now, dear?” Reggie said before turning to Sour in the back-back. “She had that put in a while back. It’s no more convenient than taking the regular lift, but Little has this idea that it’s the height of luxury because you don’t have to walk a few paces.”
“I…thought it was kind-of cool.” Sour got everypony to turn their heads to her. “We could probably rig up something like that in my world, but it would cost a lot of money. But what’s the point of putting us all in the cart if some-pony has to get out and pull?”
“No, I’ll drive until we get out of the city.” Little started her horn glowing. “It’s got a come-to-life spell on it that I can manipulate. Once we’re out on the highways, maybe Reg and Gar will pull. That’s another reason I had the wire-lift put in. Saves my magic for driving.”
“She’s got plenty of magic.” Reggie was leaning back to talk to Sour, but he was pretty sure Little could still hear. “It’s just for showing off.”
The cart started to roll. There was a canvas covering, but the sides were open and airy. Since there was no engine noise but only the sound of the wheels and the magic, it was a peaceful ride. Little led them out of the garage.
“Oh!” Everypony turned to see Sour wide-eyed. “This part is pretty.”
They had emerged into a covered courtyard. The road curved either way, and at either end light streamed in through an arch. Several stories above them, a stone roof shielded them from the sun. Where the road met the arches, they could see the symmetrical road going the other way, and a taxicab was ambling through the north arch. In the center of the circle formed by the roads were flowers in a riot of colors, bright yellows, blues, and pinks.
“What happened was,” Reggie said, “as they were building up Manehattan they had issues with traffic. The roads were all in a grid, which is nice, and downtown you have Bridleway which cuts diagonally. So then they build a set of highways girdling the whole island, and that helped ponies get to the bridges and tunnels when they’re leaving the city. But there was still traffic, especially around the train station. One thing they started to do was build flyovers and viaducts. Ninth Avenue is on the back side of our building, the other side from the park, but about twenty blocks either way there’s an exit to go up on an elevated road. Then they made this tunnel through our building and connected the elevated road through it. It goes straight up to the girdle road in the north, where we can take the bridge, and down to Bridleway in the south, where we could go to the tunnel. Normally it’s an express all the way with no turns, but since our building is here we can just get on. It’s very convenient. Of course, there’s an exit on the park side too if we have to get anywhere on the surface streets.”
“You should put that into my essay.”
“Good notion. There’s some paper and pens in the case to your right. But first, which way do you think we should go?”
They had stopped at the exit to the garage and were waiting. “What’s the difference?” Sour asked.
“The tunnel means a shorter trip, but the bridge is a nicer view.”
“I’m in no hurry.”
Reggie nodded and Little focused again, turning the wheels of the cart right and heading north.
The streets were bleached gray by the long years, but they were still in good repair, and they sailed smoothly uptown. The sun reflected off the buildings to their left and the breeze kissed them gently from the park on the right. At the north end of the park there was another few blocks of high-rises, and then the sunlight streamed through, peaking around corners. The skyline descended in steps, now to the combination stores and residences, now to simple houses that had been there for years. The smell of the water mixed with the air and told them they were getting close.
For the ponies, they took this journey often, any time they wanted to get out of the city and see some green. But they rarely had a guest with them, let alone someone unfamiliar with their world. Little slackened the pace of the cart as they passed 150th street. The cabs and carts were getting thicker and they had to weave in and out of traffic, but soon they reached the encircling highway.
Manehattan was a flat island for the most part, but the building of ports at the ends obscured the view sometimes. So it was not until a block later that they saw the bridge. Massive towers, made to look all the taller by their isolation, held a single great span that curved convex to the water. Sparkles flashed and twinkled on the steel of the towers and the sails of boats.
When they reached the bridge, they had no frame of references other than the metal trusses and cables. Even the water couldn’t be seen unless they craned their neck.
“I’m surprised that you could build something like this.” Sour was still looking out the window as she said it. “It’s quite impressive.”
“What do you mean, Sour Sweet?” Moon scowled at her. She could understand the culture shock, but now it was just being contradictory.
“Because you all seem so…provincial.”
“Yeah, well, we ain’t. We can do some pretty amazing things if you give us a chance.”
“Don’t let’s quarrel.” Little turned to look at them. “Not until we get over the bridge.”
“Yes, but look at the road!” Sour saw a cart to the right speeding up to get in their lane.
“Huh? Oh, don’t worry. As part of driving the cart I’m sensing everypony else on the road magically. I could do it with my eyes closed if I wanted to. But I like the view.”
They had passed the crest of the bridge and now were on the down slope, picking up speed. Once they hit land the road split off into half a dozen directions. Little slowed them down to let everyone make turns or switch lanes, then proceeded down the southwestern road. By the time the bridge was behind them, the argument was forgotten.
The contrast couldn’t have been greater. Instead of the buildings all around them and the well-paved roads, they were in a forest path with no sign of civilization other than the ruts of their wheels. With the open top of the cart, a cool breeze mixed with the sounds of birds chirping and leaves rustling. But it only lasted for an hour or so before they came to a clearing and, at the base of a descent, saw a town.
“We’ll stop there and stretch our legs,” Reggie said, and Little nodded. She steered off the path that ran along the edge and found a hotel.
“I find that hotels have accommodations for travelers, even if they’re not staying over.” Little said. Everypony split up to use the facilities, and Little went to the little shop attached to the hotel. She bought a snowcone and waited for Sour to emerge. “Here you go. Try not to get it on the hay please.”
“Thank you.” Concentrating on balance, Sour took it between her two front hooves and licked it. Once all the others were out she was racing through the cone.
“Don’t rush. It’ll be a while before we head back out. We’re going to rig the cart so that Reggie and Garlic can pull us for a while.”
The mares all stood to the side while the stallions helped each other rig two harnesses to the cart. There was a lot to do for the rigging, and Sour had time to finish her snowcone and wash her hooves again before it was time to climb back in. Little still took the spot in the front, but Moon sat next to her now, leaving the entire second row free. Sour flew in and sat sideways, leaning over the left side like it was a bar top.
“You ladies good back there?” Reggie asked. “We’re going to go all out.”
They didn’t, not until they cleared the town and were back on the highway. The trees were thinner now, it was open grassland, and sometimes they had to cut across hayfields to pick up the road. But the ride was even smoother than when Little was driving, and the thump of the drivers’ hooves gave a relaxing backbeat.
Despite the irregular cadence, the wheels moved steadily, like a train pulled by a powerful engine. Little and Moon leaned on each other as they were carried along. For Sour, it was enough to watch some landmark come into view, pass by their side, and then fade out. It was a feeling of progress.
They passed a few more towns and villages, and spend a few hours scaling and descending the Foal Mountains. The stallions didn’t want to stop for any more breaks, but as they approached Saddle Rock, Little insisted.
“Now we have a decision to make,” she said when they were finished. “Should we stay in town or keep going until the light fades and camp out?”
“I’m for camping!” Moon shouted. Sour smiled, as she tended to agree with her fellow pegasus.
“I’m inclined to agree,” said Garlic. “I can out-cook anything they have in a place like this.”
Little and Reggie exchanged one of their semi-psychic glances. “So, unless Sour Sweet has any objections?” Reggie asked.
“We’ll go camping,” she replied. “Seems I’m outvoted anyway.”
Little drove them a few miles out of town. “In case there’s something we desperately need, we can go back for it,” she said, pulling the cart a little ways off the road. It would be likely that other ponies would drive by, or even stop to join them. But as the sun went down, they dropped the tailgate of the cart, chocked the wheels, and settled in for the night.
*****
It was unlike any camping trip that Sour was familiar with. Rather than set up tents and bedrolls, the ponies took it slow, gathering wood for a fire but not making any move to start it. There didn’t seem to be much of any work done, least of all by Moon, who flopped onto the ground near the wood and stretched her wings. Sour knelt next to her, but still kept an eye out for anything to do.
Garlic took out one of the boxes from the cart. With tender care, he removed a cast iron pot, blacker than the night that was falling, and strung it over the wood. Looking the setup over, he nodded and said, “Fire and water, please, whenever you’re ready.”
Sour still checked around to see if he was asking her, but it was Little who stepped up. She cast a spell that arced into the pot, and Sour could hear that water was filling it up. Then with a shower of sparkles that became real sparks, Little turned the pile of twigs into a raging blaze.
It was already a warm night, so Sour thought, but the fire made sure that any breeze that blew by didn’t chill her. Rolling onto her side away from the campfire, she spread her wings as Moon had to enjoy the warmth on the sensitive undersides.
But with the light behind her, it gave her a clearer view of the path ahead. The stars were out, much more than she could see in the light-polluted town where she lived. Something was off, though. On the horizon, the stars were cut off by a shape of nothingness.
“What’s that?” she asked. Reggie walked over and stared where she was pointing.
“What’s what?”
Moon sat up. “Let a pegasus’s eyes see. What is it you’re pointing at, Sour Sweet dear?”
“The…the black.”
“Oh! Mountains in the distance. That is Canterlot, our destination tomorrow.”
“Where Little’s friend lives?”
“She’s all of our friend, but yes. That is the capital of Equestria. Most of the residents will say it’s the best city there is, but most of the residents of Manehattan would say the same about there. Of course, I work in one and live in the other, so I’m objective.”
“And which is better?”
Garlic had come back into earshot, so Moon said, “Manehattan, of course.”
He smiled a knowing grin and got to work on the pot, mixing spices and vegetables that he pulled out of a sack that had been taken off the cart. Already it was starting to boil, making tantalizing fragrances that mixed with the heady scent of the burning wood.
Sour thought of it as a kind of mulligatawny, a spicy stew or soup that she had eaten before. The ponies seemed to have only two ways they did meals: quick and on the go or with all the trimmings. Or maybe, she thought, they were fortunate to have with them a good cook.
Garlic served the stew on tin plates. Sour still had trouble eating in this way, but she could use the fork to stab chunks of food out of the stew. When she was down to bits too small to grab this way, she threw decorum out, lifted the bowl to her mouth, and slurped it all down. Moon looked at her, smiled, and did the same.
Unsure of what to do with the empty plate, she was pleased to see that Little took it from her magically. Putting them all on the ground, she focused and cast a spell. After a flash of light, all the plates and the cooking pot were clean as though they were new.
“Now that’s a useful bit of magic,” she said. “Only…” she trailed off, not wanting to qualify it.
There was a slight slope to the area they were camped on, so they could lean back and look up at the sky without being completely supine. Sour wasn’t very tired, but then she hadn’t done any of the driving. Still, if the ponies were going to sleep, she preferred to set everything up first.
“Nice night,” Reggie said.
“It is, but I’m still not comfortable just sleeping out on the ground with nothing under me or above me. I know you said that this body can handle it, but psychologically, I can’t sleep without it. I guess that’s a security blanket, huh?”
“Do you want to go to bed now, though?”
Sour held up her hooves. “No, no! I just wanted to make sure because it seemed like all of you were ready to crash.”
That brought laughter from the others. “Just because we’re relaxing doesn’t mean we’re sleeping,” Moon said. “Wait until tomorrow, then you’ll see how we really like to spend our nights.”
Little got up and approached the cart. She took off a gray case and flipped open the latches. There were pillows and blankets there. “You can wrap yourself in a blanket and it should do a good job of simulating a sleeping bag.” Then she took down a flat black case. “And as for the nights, why wait until tomorrow?”
“No,” Moon said, kicking herself off the ground and flying over to where Little was, slamming the case closed before Little could finish opening it. “We’re not going ahead with just the four of us, and I’m certainly not going to get all my stuff out only to pack it up in the morning.”
“You’ll have to do that tomorrow anyway.”
“I won’t, because Hoof Dame will be here to help us.” Sour perked up her ears. Whoever this other pony was, she thought, she must be awfully special for the four of her companions to be so needful of her. She also was curious as to what was in the boxes that was so fabulous, but she wasn’t going to let on to the ponies that she was eager.
“Fine,” said Little, not without a bit of a huff. “What are we doing tonight, then?”
“We could just talk.”
That seemed to mollify Little. “Yes, we could.”
It was Garlic who began the conversation, talking about his work. Sour was never much interested in cooking, so she only half listened. Then he mentioned something about some pony who had said hi to Reggie, and Reggie asked after his wife, and now Sour could tune out completely.
She was used to this. Circles of friends always had their own topics of conversation that they liked to stick to, and when any outsider happened to be present, they never realized how excluding it was. Sour herself solved this problem by not getting too close to anyone. Her friends like Sunny and Lemon would talk to her about what was going on at Crystal Prep, but if someone else showed up, she would drop that and talk about the news or a television show or something that they all could discuss. At least, she hoped she would. There wasn’t much opportunity.
The ponies laughed at some joke or anecdote, and it broke Sour out of her own thoughts. She smiled with them, even though she had missed what was said and likely wouldn’t have understood anyway.
Just as she tuned out, Moon said, “Hey, Sour, why don’t you tell us more about yourself? You probably don’t want to hear about all our friends that you don’t know.”
That was refreshing. The ponies widened their circle and let her in. “So most of my life is taken up by what I have to do at school. Crystal Prep is the school to go to if you want to get into a good college, and my folks say that I have to get into the best. Which I totally will. But then the Friendship games happened. I’ll tell you, I always took that as just a name, where it was a rival team to defeat, but ever since the magic started happening, we all figure there has to be something to this, right?”
The ponies had heard conflicting versions of what actually happened, so Sour was able to give them a firsthand account. It let her talk instead of just listening, which was fine by her. From there the conversation drifted into talking about Principal Cinch and how much of a villain she really was. The ponies regaled Sour with tales of some of the monsters and evil creatures that assailed Equestria, and what they had to do to stay safe.
Sour realized that she did not have a watch or any way to tell time. She wondered if the ponies did it automatically by the stars. It had to be very late. Garlic excused himself from the conversation and stretched out with his head on his hoof. After that, they spoke in hushed tones. Sour would have been fine if they could talk until the sun came up, but she remembered that she was on a trip, and they had to cover some ground the next day.
The other ponies just collapsed on the ground and settled to sleep, but Sour couldn’t do that. Her blanket and pillow were set up, but she wasn’t ready for them. After giving the others five minutes or so to relax, she got up and flew away.
“Huh? Sour Sweet?” Little rolled over and looked at her. “Where are you going?”
“I’m not sleepy yet. Going to take a walk or flight until I get tired.”
“Don’t go too far. Make sure you stay within sight of the wagon.”
Sour showed fear for only a moment. “Is it dangerous or are you just worried about me getting lost?”
“If you’re on or near the path, you’re fine. But the Everfree Forest is just to our southwest. You don’t want to be there.”
“I wouldn’t go into a forest, to be sure.”
Little pulled herself up until she was resting on one hoof. “It’s not just that. Even if you were to fly over it, you could have problems. The weather there is completely uncontrolled. It could rain without warning or anything. There are monsters too.”
“I’ll stay close. Even though I think I could handle them.” Sour realized that she had lapsed into her old ways, slipping in the snarky remark.
She made lazy circles in the air above the camp, wondering if she wasn’t being helpful by keeping watch. But if what Little said was true, then there was no need for a watch, as close to the path as they were. She let her thoughts drift.
It was important to Sour to use this time to sort things out, be prepared for what she was doing the next day, and that she understood everything that had happened that day. She was getting to know the ponies better. When she thought about it, if they were in her world, not transformed into her form, they could easily take over.
Reggie and Garlic had spent all day galloping at full speed. Even the best marathon runners couldn’t do that. Little’s magic was something special. And of course, no one in her world could fly. She should probably feel better about that than she did.
Was it that she was worried about making a good impression on the ponies? That was important. There would be some people—Principal Cinch was the archetype—who would react out of fear and would anger the ponies. Sour did not want to see what would happen if they ever got angry.
But, she reminded herself, the ponies weren’t perfect. They weren’t godly beings. They had their issues. It was just as much on her to understand those. Now she had an idea of what she had to learn on this trip, and figuring out the right question was as important as getting the right answer.
Skittering to a landing, Sour figured that she had probably kept everypony up, but they were too polite to say anything.
The fire was still going, keeping the heat, but Sour could turn away and barely see any of the glow. She snuggled her head into the pillow they’d given her and curled up in the blanket. It still didn’t feel right, laying out on the bare ground, but it certainly didn’t pain her as much as doing so would have in her usual form.
What she couldn’t do was be completely free of the dirt. Some had gotten into the blanket, since one side of it was completely open to the elements. That was bothersome. There were definitely no shower facilities that they had brought along with them, but perhaps the next day, when they reached the city, she could stop in a hotel or something and clean up. For all Sour knew, the ponies went in for communal bathing.
Or, would it be possible for her to fly into a cloud and clean off that way? She would have to ask Moon about that in the morning. For that matter, if she could figure a way to keep her wings going all night, she could sleep in the air, and that would keep the dirt off. Sour wasn’t really sure as to what the abilities and limits of being a pony were all about. And her new companions couldn’t explain it to her easily because it was the only way they had ever been.
With her head poking out, she could see the edge of the forest she had been forbidden from entering. It didn’t look that scary, and part of her wanted to see some of the monsters. She wondered if they were truly dangerous, or if they were on the same order as not being able to get exactly what weather you wanted.
She let her gaze drift away from the forest to the city. In the dim of the night, each was a shadow, identical. But the next day they would bypass the dangerous one for the safe and civilized one. She was eager for the sun to rise so that she could see the city that the ponies had built up so high to her. She had only seen a few parts of Manehattan, but the viaduct and the bridge had been impressive enough. If Canterlot was as good as that, well, then if nothing else it would be a vision.
With all those thoughts running through her head, Sour Sweet closed her eyes.