//------------------------------//
// Chapter 54 - A Taste Of Home 
// Story: Second Chances, Many Changes 
// by ASGeek2012 
//------------------------------//

I took my first breath of Manehattan air as we stepped off the train and into the equivalent of Penn Station, and at once I noticed the sharp difference. Instead of the familiar odors of diesel fumes and ozone, I instead smelled the thick aroma of steam and the occasional whiff of something acrid, like burning wood but not quite. I felt more like I had stepped into a version of New York City dating back perhaps a century or so ago, but, of course, with ponies.

What had not changed were the crowds. Far more ponies than I had ever seen clustered at the marketplace in Ponyville bustled about, those with a definite destination in mind mixed with gawping tourists. A smile stretched across my muzzle; now it started to look a lot more like home.

"Tar-nation!" Applejack proclaimed, her pupils shrinking slightly. "Where'd all these ponies come from?"

I giggled into my fore-hoof.

"And this is a weekend, darling," said Mom. "Imagine what it's like during a weekday."

"If it's all the same ta you, I reckon I won't." She glanced around nervously. "Can we get outta here? I wanna get ta where it don't feel so dang crowded."

Mom and I exchanged a look that said "shall I tell her?" but we both simply smiled. "We should get moving in any case," said Mom as she trotted forward.

Applejack fell into step alongside her, and I drifted in the rear, my gaze flicking about, finding both the familiar, the strange, and everything in between.

Applejack's gaze shifted from platform to platform, where ponies poured out of trains arriving from other cities, or darted into outbound trains. "Ya sure there ain't some sorta event goin' on?"

"Whatever do you mean?" said Mom.

Applejack gestured with a hoof. "All these ponies jus' buzzin' about like swarms of bees. Ain't no way there can be that many with a place ta go every day."

Mom chuckled. "Really, we need to get you off that farm more often and into the real world."

Applejack frowned. "The 'real world' seems a might too fast fer my tastes."

I had to stifle a laugh. At the same time, the ease at which I had again become used to the crowds and bustle of a big city did create a tiny ache in my heart. Was that all it took to spark a bit of homesickness?

Mom suddenly stopped and turned towards us. "Wait! My mane!"

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "What's the matter with it?"

"The steam from the train always sends it into quite the disarray. I need to touch it up before we head outside."

"Oh, fer the luvva ..." Applejack grumbled. "Ya were jus' all hot and bothered ta get outside!"

Mom trotted up to me. "Now, this will only take a second, all I need is--" She glanced at my saddlebags and suddenly gasped, drawing back a half step. "Oh, my stars, where is it?!"

I blinked. "Huh?"

"What now?" Applejack said with a resigned sigh.

Mom's horn glowed as she ruffled through my saddlebags. "One of my brushes is missing. We absolutely cannot be without it! It must have fallen out when we were leaving the train. We'll need to go back and find it."

I stared. "You're kidding, right?"

"I most certainly am not."

"Mom, you packed twenty-eight brushes!"

"Yes, but this one had beautiful sapphires embedded in the handle--"

I narrowed my eyes. "Like four other brushes you have."

"--and lovely emerald sequins around the edge--"

"Like another six."

Mom frowned. "Oh, do stop being contrary, Candy, this is quite serious."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, fine, I'll go back and see if I can find it." I started to turn away. "Just don't go too far from the station."

Mom smiled and plucked a substitute brush from my saddlebags. "Thank you, dear, and I promise we won't stray too far."

Applejack gave me a sympathetic look just before they headed away.

I found my way back to the platform easily, but the conductor -- an earth pony stallion with a gray coat and white mane -- was drawing the gate closed. I galloped up to him. "Hey, wait!"

The conductor turned towards me. "What can I do for ya, miss?"

I pointed a hoof at the train. "I dropped something. Can you let me back on?"

The stallion shook his head. "Sorry, train's bein' taken outta service. They did a sweep for stuff left behind. Youse gotta go to the lost 'n found." He jabbed a hoof to the side. "Straight that way."

I grinned. Wow, that accent. Another dose of familiarity among the strangeness. I thanked him and cantered off.

The lost and found was run by bored clerks who looked like they wanted to be doing anything else but this. I had to describe the brush three times before the clerk finally found it. In an impatient rush, I grabbed it in my magic, mumbled thanks, and started off.

I had taken only a few steps when I skidded to a stop and muttered, "Wait a minute." I turned the brush over. While the handle and sides looked right, the tines were longer and spaced very differently than I had remembered. "Oh, ponyfeathers, this isn't right, this--"

"Excuse me, miss?"

I turned at the sound of a female voice. An older pegasus mare with a creamy light orange coat, yellow mane and tail, and a cutie mark of a sun half-hidden behind a rose stepped over to me, balancing a brush on a fore-hoof. My eyes widened. "Wait, that looks like ..."

The mare smiled. "Yes, I thought so. And you have mine."

I had been right; the brush the clerk gave me was meant for preening feathers rather than brushing hair. I exchanged brushes with her. "Thank you!"

"No problem, dear," said the mare as she deposited her brush in her saddlebag. "Just glad I caught you before you galloped off."

I thrust Mom's brush into the saddlebag so it would hopefully stay put this time. "Oh, um, yeah, sorry."

She tilted her head. "Are you from Manehattan?"

I could have asked the same of her, as her accent was faint. Even mine was stronger than hers. I decided to just go with it and not launch into a detailed explanation of my origins to a stranger. "Yeah, I am. First time back in a little while, though."

The mare smiled, though it seemed a bit forced. "Same for me as well," she said in a wistful voice. "Maybe too long a while in my case, but ..." She averted her eyes for a moment, then looked back to me with concern. "Pardon me for asking, miss, but are your parents about?"

"Yeah, my Mom's just outside the station."

She smiled more naturally. "Oh, good. Sorry, once a mother, always a mother, I guess."

I smiled as well. "No, it's fine. Um, speaking of Mom, I should join her outside."

"I'm headed out as well." said the mare. "Mind if I accompany you?"

I shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

The mare trotted alongside me. "My name is Rose Sunshine, but you can just call me Rosey. Everypony does."

"I'm Candy Swirl." I was at a loss as to what to say next. Engaging in conversation with a complete stranger in a big city was something I would expect in Ponyville, not Manehattan.

Fortunately, my companion felt compelled to break the silence. "I wonder how much has changed since I've been gone." Rosey chuckled nervously. "I hope I don't get lost."

"When were you in Manehattan last?"

Rosey hesitated. "Oh, um ... nine years. Almost ten."

That explained the faded accent. While growing up in New York, I noticed that very little really seemed to change about the city, at least at its very core. Businesses would come and go, buildings change hands, but the spirit of the place never changed. I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile. "Eh, the more things change, the more they stay the same."

Rosey's smile turned wistful again. "Yes, that ... that is quite true in many ways. I like to think that it's not always true, but ..." She trailed off and chuckled. "Pay me no mind, Candy, I'm an old mare prone to rambling sometimes."

Had I accidentally struck some kind of chord with her without realizing it? I remembered how easily Mom could do that with me back when my head was still addled with grief and guilt.

Only once she brought up the subject of age did I note she seemed a little older than I had assumed. Her wavy mane hair was streaked with a bit of gray. One of her wings didn't lay quite flat against her side.

"So what brings you to Manehattan again, if I may ask?" said Rosey.

I chuckled. "Um, heh, kinda hard to explain, really."

"I'm terribly sorry," said Rosey. "I didn't mean to pry."

"Oh, no, not at all, it's not like it's a big secret." Just how much was known about what Mom and her friends did outside of Ponyville? "You, uh, ever hear of something called a Cutie Map?"

Rosey gave me a puzzled look and shook her head.

"What about the Castle of Friendship?"

Rosey slowly smiled. "Yes, of course, I've heard of that."

"Well, okay, there's this magical device in the castle called a Cutie Map. Twi ... um, Princess Twilight uses it to send her friends to other parts of the world to, uh, solve friendship problems."

Rosey gave me an astonished look. "Really? That's quite remarkable."

"And my Mom and her friend were summoned to Manehattan," I explained. "I'm just sort of along for the ride."

Rosey uttered a weak laugh. "I don't suppose these ponies are for hire, are they?"

"I, uh, don't think it works quite that way."

Rosey laughed some more and waved a wing. "Just a joke, dear. And we're just about outside, anyway."

I had not realized that we were that close to the exit, but now the doors loomed just ahead. My heart raced in anticipation, and I squinted as the light of day blazed down upon us as we stepped through the door.

My breath caught as my eyes fell upon the busy avenue, and for a moment I was carried back to my childhood, as if reliving the snippet of my past that had played out in my dream on the train. Despite the "cars" being pulled by ponies and the colorful pony population themselves, the relentless activity preserved the essence of what being in a city like this was all about.

I took a deep breath, and as in the station, some of the illusion was shattered. Automobile exhaust was not the healthiest thing to breathe, of course, but its distinctive odor was something that harkened back to home, just like the rumbling of the subway beneath my feet, or the blare of horns from impatient drivers at intersections.

Manehattan had its own distinctive flavor for a city, and it would take me time to assimilate it all. Already the pounding of pony hooves that pulled the vehicles in no less of a mad rush than the cars of back home shouted I was someplace very different than the serene quiet of Ponyville.

Rosey smiled as she stepped in front of me, looking around. "You're right, Candy," she said in a soft voice almost drowned out by the police-pony's whistle as he stopped traffic to allow ponies on hooves to cross. "The city never really changes, does it?"

"Yeah," I said in a soft voice.

Rosey turned her gaze to me. "Do you see your mother?"

I shielded my eyes with a hoof. I spotted them across the street near the intersection. Mom looked like she had stopped somepony from buying a hat from a street vendor, and now she was levitating one from the luggage atop Applejack's barrel.

I pointed. "Over there. The unicorn with the white coat and purple mane. Her name's Rarity."

As I watched, the pony sporting the new hat trotted away, looking quite pleased, while Mom and Applejack appeared to discuss something.

Rosey tilted her head. "Are they doing their, um, friendship-solving thing now?"

Mom glanced at her cutie mark in obvious disappointment, just before the vendor approached them and tried to start an argument. "Probably not," I murmured as the vendor shook a fore-hoof in anger at them. I frowned as Applejack pushed Mom away from the altercation. "I better see what's up."

"I understand." Rosey raised a fore-hoof. "It was nice to meet you, Candy."

I gave her a small smile and touched my fore-hoof to hers. "Yeah, same here. See ya."

I glanced at the street where the police-pony was about to let traffic resume and did as any good New Yorker would do when faced with a light at an intersection with a flashing "DON'T WALK" sign: run as fast as I could before the other cars started to move. Or in this case, take off at full gallop just as the whistle blew. As I had hoped, it earned me no more than a roll of the police-pony's eyes.

I rounded the corner, heading across another intersection as I cantered after Mom and Applejack. "You're right, Applejack," I heard Mom say as I closed the distance. "The search continues!"

"B'fore we start any searchin', we outta circle back and fetch Candy," said Applejack.

"You don't have to," I said as I stepped alongside them. "And what was going on back there?"

Mom smiled as she glanced at the brush in my saddlebags. "You found it! Wonderful!"

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Yeah, wouldn't want another 'crime of fashion', now, would we?"

"Huh?" I said.

Mom lifted her muzzle. "Never you mind that. Let's check into the hotel and get back out there and find that friendship problem!"

"You mean you haven't figured it out yet?"

"Candy, dear, things like this take time."

"In other words, you don't have a clue."

"I reckon that sums it up, yeah," said Applejack.

Mom made a dismissive noise. "Now, enough of this negativity, both of you. I have an idea that just might work!"





Mom spoke only to Applejack about her idea, claiming she wanted it to be a surprise. Yet as I saw her idea take shape at the corner of a small lot squeezed between narrow, tightly packed brick buildings, I could only look on in confusion at what she and Applejack were constructing.

"There," said Applejack as she stepped back.

Mom turned to me and smiled. "So what do you think?"

I stared. It looked ... vaguely familiar. A simple wooden counter sat on the ground, and above that, supported by a vertical beam on either side, a wooden placard with two pony heads painted on with a heart between them.

"Well?" Mom prompted.

"Um ... what is it?" I asked.

"Why, a friendship help stand, of course!"

I blinked. No. She didn't.

Mom smiled and stepped up to me. "Don't you see your own inspiration in this?"

"I ... what??"

"Toldya this was a silly idea," Applejack muttered.

"Okay, explain this to me, please," I said. "How am I to blame for this?"

Mom gave me a confused look. "Don't you recognize it? You originated the concept."

I stared, dumbfounded. "I did??"

"Yes, you told me of that character from a work of literature back on your world. Well, in her case, it was psychiatric help, which I thought rather odd for a child to dispense, but--"

I face-hoofed so hard I nearly gave myself a headache. "Mom, that was a cartoon character! It wasn't meant to be taken seriously!"

Mom paused. She looked at her creation again. "Oh."

I rolled my eyes.

"Well, I say we make the best of it," said Mom as she trotted behind the stand. "Applejack, if you would?"

"Uh-uh, no way," said Applejack.

Mom pouted. "Oh, come on!"

"I ain't gonna sit there an' try ta offer friendship advice like I was handin' out free samples of somethin'." She jabbed a hoof down the street. "In fact, I'm jus' gonna go down that there street an' ask random ponies 'til I find somethin', an' I'll bet I'll have a better chance'n you."

Mom snorted and waved a hoof as Applejack headed away. "Candy, do you want to help me, or will you abandon your poor mother in her time of need?"

I smirked. "Nice try."

She sighed. "Worth a shot."

"I do want to help, but right now, I'm really thirsty," I said. "I didn't think to get some water while we were at the hotel."

Mom gazed past me and across the street. "There's a little cafe right over there. You can go have a soda or lemonade if you want." She levitated her bit purse from her mane.

I grabbed the purse in my magic and tucked it my own mane. "Thanks."

I trotted across the street and tried not to cringe when Mom's cry of "Friendship advice!" rose above the din of ponies and carriages.

Opening the door of the cafe brought a low cacophony to my swiveling ears, and a smile tugged at my lips. A multitude of ponies sat at tables, their constant chatter a busy and familiar drone. The clink and clatter of cutlery and dishes sounded from the kitchen. It all reminded me of what my birth mother called "greasy spoon" restaurants that were so ubiquitous back home.

As I stepped up to the counter, the aroma of frying hayburgers made my stomach rumble, tempting me to indulge despite how close it grew to dinner time. I had to have something, as just a soda wouldn't satisfy me now. Suddenly, I picked up another smell, one that made me gasp and forget everything else.

Bagels.

Sweet Celestia, Manehattan had bagels!

No way was I passing this up. To me, New York bagels were simply the best bar none. I purchased one of those wonderful baked and toasted concoctions along with a strawberry soda.

After finally hunting down a free table, I took a sample nibble of the bagel and let out a sigh of both relief and contentment. It tasted just as good as I remembered them back home. There were subtle differences in the flavor, or course, but it was good. That's all that mattered.

As I slathered butter on it, I glanced out the window, the noise of conversation thankfully drowning out Mom hawking friendship help to the apparently indifferent Manehattenites.

"She knows what she's doing," I murmured with a sigh. "I have to believe that."

"Heya," a female voice called out just as I bit down on the bagel.

I turned my head. An earth pony mare with deep amber fur and soft orange mane streaked with pale red stood in the aisle. On a fore-hoof, she balanced a tray with a large sandwich and a steaming cup of tea.

"Mind if I sit with you?" said the mare with a tired smile. "Every table's taken and my hooves are killin' me."

I still had the bagel in my mouth. I bit off a piece and chewed it quickly until I could respond. "Sure, go ahead."

Her smile widened. "Thanks, 'preciate it." She put the tray on the table and hopped onto the seat. I caught a glimpse of her cutie mark: a quill poised to write onto a blank scroll. "I've been trottin' all over this part of town all day. First chance I had to get something to eat since this mornin'. By the way, name's Digger Flower, but you can call me Digs."

I puzzled over her name. The combination didn't make immediate sense. "I'm Candy Swirl."

She raised a fore-hoof, and when I did the same, she rapped hers against mine rather hard. "Pleasedtameecha," she said before taking a huge bite out of her sandwich. She tilted her head, still chewing. "You from outta town?"

I blinked. "It's that obvious?"

Digs shrugged. "Sorry. Reporter's instinct. You got the accent, but not too strong, and your mannerisms are a little different."

"Your accent isn't quite that strong, either," I countered, though it was thicker than mine.

She grinned. "Good catch. Yeah, I kind of made my voice a little more refined. Makes interviewing ponies easier. Makes them think I got an air of authority or some such thing."

So now her first name made a little more sense. A play on digging for the truth, maybe? In either case, I wasn't letting anything distract me from the wonderful taste sensation that was the bagel. I continued to nibble it as we conversed. "Yeah, I'm just visiting."

Digs raised an eyebrow slightly. "By yourself?"

"No, my Mom is ..." I started to raise a fore-hoof, intending to point towards Mom outside, but at the last second I just waved it vaguely in the air. "... around."

Digs seemed to accept this with a nod, but as she picked up her cup of tea, her gaze wandered outside. "Huh. What's that all about?"

I coughed as I almost inhaled some of my soda. "Er ... I, um ..."

Digs leaned over and pressed one ear to the window. "Friendship advice?" She uttered an amused snort. "Okay, there's somethin' you don't see every day." She chuckled. "Wonder how much she's chargin' for it? Do I get a money-back guarantee?"

I tried not to shrink back in my seat as I asked in a small voice, "Are you going to report on it?"

Digs waved a fore-hoof. "Nah. Sounds like a fluff piece. I'm more an investigative reporter. I'll just tell them about it when I get back to the news room, and they can decide to send out a junior reporter if they want."

With any luck, Mom would be done by then. Or more likely, call it a loss; Mom had stopped hawking and had leaned forward with her head on her fore-legs, looking frustrated and despondent as Applejack trotted up to her.

Digs took a large drink of her tea. "Even if I wanted to cover it, I'm trying to wrap up early today. Got stuff to do for a special occasion."

Having successfully deflected attention away from Mom, I was more than happy to pursue this topic. "What's the occasion?"

She smiled, and her voice softened. "My tenth wedding anniversary."

"Oh, congratulations, then."

"Thanks. Been lookin' forward to this for some time. I've been wanting to plan something nice for my hubby for a long while. Going to surprise him with a setup just like our wedding day."

Her smile faded a bit. I found I couldn't ignore it. I glanced out the window again in time to see Mom get smacked in the face with a piece of paper blown by the wind, but even that didn't distract me. I turned my gaze back to Digs. "Something wrong?"

Digs hesitated, one corner of her mouth curling upwards. "Sure you're not lookin' to break into investigative journalism yourself?"

I smiled faintly. "Not really, but thanks. Anyway ... you don't have to answer that."

Digs shrugged. "Eh, no biggie, really. Let's just say the original wedding itself had a few, ah, technical difficulties. My hubby claims he doesn't care, but, well, I kinda do. So think of this as take two. I just want it to be perfect, you know?"

I paused to finish off the rest of my bagel and take a long drink of the soda. "Yeah, I get that."

I really did. My birth mother could be that way. When she held birthday parties for me, she insisted everything be just right. She even sometimes surprised me with a "do-over" party on the rare occasions when things didn't go well the first time.

Outside, Mom had done an emotional one-eighty; she had an absolutely joyous look on her face as she showed the paper to Applejack. It looked like a flier of some sort.

"You know that friendship advice pony, doncha?"

I snapped my gaze back to Digs. "Um ... uh ..."

She smirked and propped up her head on one fore-hoof. "That's your Mom out there, right?"

"Yeah, actually, she is," I said in a sheepish voice.

Digs chuckled. "Sorry, it was kinda obvious."

I rubbed a hoof through my mane. "It's kind of a long story why she's doing that."

Digs smiled. "No worries." She crammed the rest of the sandwich into her mouth and swallowed it after just a few chews. "Looks like they're coming to fetch you, and I gotta get going if I want to get my latest story in for tomorrow morning's paper and run my errands."

Sure enough, Mom and Applejack were heading across the street towards the cafe, Mom still levitating the flier before her.

Digs glanced at the clock above the counter and frowned. "It's later than I thought. I'm gonna have to put off going to my seamstress until tomorrow." She rolled her eyes. "Not that it's gonna help, but I'll have to give it a shot." She smiled and downed the last of her tea in one gulp. "Nice meeting you, Candy."

I smiled. "Yeah, same here."

Digs grabbed her tray, winked, and slid off her chair just as Mom and Applejack burst inside.

"Candy!" Mom cried as she rushed up to me. Applejack fell behind, having as much luck navigating the crowded cafe as she had crossing the street outside the station earlier (from the way Mom had told it). "Candy, I have wonderful news! Look!"

Before I could open my mouth to comment, she thrust the flier at me. I quickly scanned it as I drank down the last of my soda. "Um, okay, so?"

Mom made an exasperated noise. "Can't you see this is it?"

I raised an eyebrow. "This is your friendship problem? A community theater revival?"

"Excuse me ... pardon me ... sorry ..." came Applejack's voice as she struggled to reach us. She finally stood next to Mom and frowned. "Consarn it, there's jus' too many ponies no matter where ya go!"

"Candy, don't you recognize the name?" Mom implored.

I admittedly had skimmed the flier rather than read it in depth, but now my gaze was drawn to a familiar name. "Coco Pommel? Is that pony you told me about from your last trip to Manehattan?"

"Yes, exactly! She's running the revival and must desperately need our help."

I set the empty glass of soda aside. "Are we heading over to Coco's place now, or will you have mercy on us and let us get some dinner first?"

Mom waved a hoof. "It's not that late."

"Yer dang right it's that late," Applejack declared. "Y'all could hear my stomach rumblin' if it weren't fer all the noise in here."

Mom sighed. "Oh, very well."

Applejack sniffed the air. "I'd even go fer the grub in this place if I could put up with the crowd."

"Nonsense, darling," Mom said. "I know of a much more upscale place than this."

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Is it gonna be some frou-frou place where the servers are dressed better'n the customers an' ya need a magnifyin' glass ta see the portions?"

I smirked and nearly chuckled.

Mom clicked her tongue. "Ugh, you really need to understand what it's like to be in a city like this. Let's get going."





The sun sank below the skyline as we walked down the street from the restaurant some time later. "Yeah, I knew it was gonna be like that," Applejack muttered.

"The portions were not that small," Mom countered.

"Then why am I still hungry?"

Mom turned to me. "Are you still hungry, Candy?"

"Not really," I said. "But I had the bagel in the cafe right before dinner."

Mom gave me a nonplussed look. "A bagel?"

"Um, yeah. Something wrong with that?"

"Well, not really, I just thought while you were in Manehattan you would sample cuisine that was less, ah, low-brow."

I uttered a dramatic gasp. "Low-brow??"

Applejack snickered.

"Well, I only meant--" Mom began.

I waved her silent with a fore-hoof. "Nope. That's it. You insulted my love for bagels. I'm disowning you as my mother."

Her pupils shrank. "I beg your pardon?!"

Applejack laughed, and I smiled and giggled.

One corner of Mom's mouth rose. "Very funny."

I was still smiling as my gaze wandered about just to take in everything. A sense of almost giddy excitement had settled over me, and I wasn't sure why. Could just walking down a city street really bring me all the way back to those happy days as a kid? Was I looking at things too much through rose-colored glasses and not truly seeing the differences between this place and my old home?

"That the place yonder?" I heard Applejack say.

I turned and looked where she had pointed her hoof, and my breath caught. A tiny clothing store occupied a corner of an otherwise nondescript apartment building. In my wistful gaze, it briefly became one of the first stores my mother had opened.

"Oh, good, she's still open," said Mom as she quickened her pace.

My heart raced. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was about to take a step into the past. Yet as the little bell above the door tinkled, and we filed inside, I let out the breath I only realized then I had been holding. In my mind's eye, I became the little girl in the dream, delighting in the anticipation of seeing her mother doing what she loved so much. Only when my overlaid memory had faded enough could I see the differences between this and the store in my head, but nothing could change the essence of this place.

Movement out of the corner of my eye interrupted my thoughts, and had it not been for the distinct clop of approaching hooves, I would almost have expected to see my birth mother walk out from the back. Instead, an earth pony mare with an off-white coat and two-tone pale blue mane and tail came trotting out. "I'm sorry, I was just about to close up for the day and--" the mare began before coming to a sudden surprised halt. "Ohmigosh! Rarity?!"

Mom approached her and extended a fore-leg. "Come here, darling."

The mare rushed forward, accepting the offered hug. "Oh, and Applejack!" she cried, hugging her as well. "It's so good to see you, too!"

"Same here, sugarcube," said Applejack with a smile.

The mare turned her gaze to me. "And who would this be?"

"This is my foster daughter Candy Swirl," said Mom. "Candy, this is my good friend Coco Pommel."

"Nice to meet you," I said.

"This is such a wonderful surprise!" said Coco. "What brings you all here?"

Mom's horn glowed, and she plucked the flier from her mane and unrolled it. "I would say this did."

Coco gasped. "I've been so frazzled about this the past few weeks! A-are you really here to help me?"

"We're going to do all we can, dear."

"But right now, ya might wanna explain more of what this is all about," said Applejack.

"Yes, of course," said Coco. She trotted to the front door and latched it, then flipped the sign in the window from "OPEN" to "CLOSED" before turning to face us again. "Let's all head up to my apartment. I have some snacks that you're more than welcome to."

Applejack brightened. "Well, thank ye kindly, that would sure hit the spot right now."

Coco started towards the back. "This way, please, there's a door in the back that heads into the apartment building."

"Um, wait," I heard myself say. "Coco?"

She stopped and turned. "Yes, Candy?"

I hesitated, my eyes darting around the store. "This ... this is going to sound like a strange request, but ... can I hang out down here for a bit and just, well, look over the place? Please?"

Coco gave me a confused look. "Oh, well, I guess that would be okay, um ..."

Mom stepped up to her friend. "It'll be fine, dear." She turned her gaze to me. "Is it okay if I mention ...?"

I nodded quickly, not trusting my voice.

"Candy's original mother, may she rest in peace, was an excellent dress maker and fashion designer in Manehattan."

"Oh, I didn't know," said Coco softly. "I'm sorry to hear she's gone."

Applejack turned to me. "Guess I shoulda figgered this here place might bring back some memories."

"Yeah, it does," I said, my eyes misting. "Good ones, though. She had a store that looked a little like this one."

"Of course you can stay down here, Candy," said Coco. "My apartment is 3B if you want to join us later."

Mom placed a hoof on my shoulder. "Will you be okay?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm good. Really, I am."

Mom gave me a quick hug before heading off with the others. I waited until I heard the back door close in their wake.

I took a deep breath and trotted through the store. My heart ached at the aroma of fabric and the sight of half-finished orders. A desk lay facing a wall, papers lying neatly inside bins. The place was not arranged quite as my birth mother's store had been, but the differences simply didn't matter. A place like this had once been home. I had spent more time with her here than I had ever spent with her in the apartment. In a way, I missed this when she made it big and no longer had to work directly in her stores anymore.

Not many years after that, her downward spiral began.

I shook my head violently. I refused to taint these good memories anymore with such morbid thoughts. Instead, I envisioned my birth mother sitting at the desk, toiling away at the books while I played nearby. God, she so loved what she did; no wonder I had bonded with Rarity so closely that I could call her mother as well.

My birth mother also loved New York from the very moment she moved us here. She loved the sights, the sounds, the never ending activity, and the people. Especially the people. I supposed that sounded weird, considering the reputation New Yorkers had, maybe unfairly, for being cold and harsh.

Or maybe she simply wanted to change that.

I closed my eyes, and the imagery from my dream came back to me. The words of that letter remained etched into my mind. Were they really her words? Or did I just invent them myself?

I opened my eyes and stared at the desk again. "I have so much to do," I said in a very soft voice as I echoed the opening line of the letter. I let my gaze drift across the unfinished dresses. "Each creation can be a dream come true. Then t-torn asunder 'til threads ..."

My voice caught. I forced myself to take a deep breath. I so wished I could speak with Princess Luna about that dream.

The sound of the back door opening broke me out of my reverie. I turned as the others entered the room. "Something wrong?"

Mom smiled, but I could see the concern in her eyes. "I could ask you the same thing."

I blinked. "What, you're done already?"

"Ya stayed down here a might longer than I think ya realized," said Applejack.

I rubbed a hoof through my mane. "Yeah, I guess I did. So what's the deal with the revival?"

"We'll talk about it on the way back to the hotel, dear," said Mom.

"Speakin' of which, we better get goin'," said Applejack. "We gotta be back bright an' early if we're gonna round up other ponies ta help with this here shindig."

"And I can catch up with those costume alterations," said Coco. "At least I hope I can."

I turned my head towards her. "Wait, did you say alterations? Can I help?"

"Oh, but I couldn't ask you to--"

"You don't have to, I'm offering!"

Mom smiled. "Coco, I can personally vouch for her skill. With her helping you, you'll get those costumes done for 'My Fair Filly' in no time."

Coco smiled. "Thank you so very much."

Now, at least, I had something to do the next day. Maybe spending more time in this store would help me figure out what my dream meant, if anything.