Last Night in Manehattan

by Guesty

Last Night in Manehattan

“But we were supposed to be friends forever!”

The water ran down Strawberry Strudel ‘s pink face, leaving streaks in her make up as the unicorn’s elegantly groomed strawberry blonde mane weaved around her horn in an attempt to cover her face. Stanza Aria reached out a white foreleg, clasping her friend’s hoof. The ruby of Strawberry Strudels well hooficured and polished cleft formed a stark contrast with the peeling blue polish adorning Stanza’s. Strawberry always had issues with dejection, and Stanza found her gaze traveling to the left, hoping for help from the third member of their clique. Starburst didn’t notice her, or maybe she did and was just pretending not to. Starburst, an earth pony, sat turned with one purple hoof resting on the table border but her face pointedly directed away as her short red mane shifted slightly from the wind of the rushing ceiling fan. Her eyes were focused on the restaurant window, watching the Manehattan crowd of pairs waltz past, dancing the slow dance of late life beneath Luna’s starry sky.

The three had been friends for ten years now; Stanza was oldest, having graduated from Orange University only one or two years after Strawberry, the youngest of the group, had gotten out of high school. Despite the age gap the three ponies were inseparable, the very thought of being out of touch for even a week had often seemed foreign and criminal to the mares. At least that’s what they told each other.

“Strudey.” Stanza begged, her wings fluttering in agitation. “Please. You knew this would happen. We can’t sit our whole lives and talk about small, silly things like games and the next big fashion craze.” The oldest pony’s sapphire eyes pulled shut in an attempt to steady herself. The news was harder for her than she would ever express. “Eventually we need to move on. All of us...”

Stanza was a promising pegasus musician, and one of her closer employers had been so pleased with her chain of recent performances that he had called up some big name in Canterlot. The two formed a connection that presented an opening that the white mare absolutely knew would make her career. The pay was good. The benefits? Excellent. This was a chance to make it big for doing what she loved, but the moment was far from completely joyful. Stanza Aria knew that she was going somewhere that her friends simply could not follow. The separation hurt, and she had spent several nights milling over the issue in her mind before deciding on telling her friends over dinner tonight. She knew that moving and taking the role was simply the only practical thing to do, and Stanza thought herself nothing if not practical. The pegasus was also honest; her two gal pals were worth too much to string along into believing that she would come back. Returning was, after all, only an option if she failed, and the musician was confident in her success. The best the friends could hope for was a bunch of uncertainty filled letters, collecting dust as the responses became sparser and sparser until eventually ceasing to arrive at all. No, her friend’s didn’t deserve a cop-out like that. If the friendship had to break, it would be best for it to break now with everypony fresh on the others’ minds. Any other way would be supporting the lie that they would come back together again, and Stanza hated lies.

“… and you’ll be fine, both of you. You two can look after yourselves now, you girls don’t need me. I wouldn’t even consider leaving if I thought you did.”

“You don’t understand!” It was an outcry of desperation as much as it was of sadness or anger, and Stanza found herself wincing despite herself as the musician swore she could almost feel the other diners accusingly stare down the group as she tried to calm her pink friend down.

“We were supposed to see each other get older!” Strawberry continued, oblivious to any world outside of the small table of three. “We were supposed to be there for each other, no matter what! We were supposed to raise families together!” Suddenly, Strawberry stood, yanking her hoof away from Stanza’s as though the limbs were a pair of coiling white snakes.

“Our kids were supposed to be best friends with each other. Don’t you get it? You girls are my family, Stanza. The only one I’ve had that matters!”

The unicorn glared at Stanza, waiting for her to apologize and wishing for, or perhaps even expecting, her to promise that she would stay here. The clear ruby eyes begged for the musician to say that she would find some way to continue working locally. Stanza was tempted to, but already knew she couldn’t. Stanza said nothing; blue eyes drooped to stare down at her empty hooves as though they were the most interesting things in the world. For a moment, the world grew so tense and silent that the princesses could have used it as a harp string. Moments passed like years until Strawberry let out a cry as the blonde realized that Stanza was not backing down. Her eyes, red and reflective, quivered in their sockets as the mare took an uncertain step back before steeling herself and storming out of the restaurant. Stanza gave the waiter a small smile and hoofed some bits onto the table. She would cover her friend’s bill, it was the least she could do.

Stanza and Starburst finished their dinner in silence. The group of friends were frequenters of this particular restaurant, and the food was surely delicious. Unfortunately as far as Stanza was concerned the delicate salad for all intents and purposes may as well have been a heaping bowl of sandpaper. The morbid look on Starburst’s face the few times Stanza looked up suggested that the purple earth pony felt the same way. It wasn’t until the two mares had stepped out into the chilly night air that the mutual silence was broken by Starburst, speaking her first words since Stanza broke the ill-received news mid-dinner.

“You’re really doing this, huh?”

“Yeah.” Stanza replied. There didn’t seem like much else to say as the two turned to face one another, shivering in a sudden winter breeze.

“I wish you wouldn’t “

The words were a simple statement, and Stanza could tell that Starburst wouldn’t try to make her stay. The silent earth pony had always been a bit of a doormat. She had also always been rather shy, but through years of companionship Stanza was confident that her friend was finally more than capable of socializing with others outside their group. In fact, it was something that Stanza wanted to happen. She knew that Starburst would have been happy to talk to nopony but Strawberry and herself, but that wasn’t the way for a pony to live. She needed new and more important connections. Connections were everything in the world.

“Will you write?” The red-maned mare asked

“Probably not.”

“Oh.”

It was late, and Stanza knew that she had to get up early enough to ride the train to her future. She started an awkward trek home, Starburst followed at her fetlocks. At their doorstep they hugged. Not even a single night had passed and already Stanza couldn’t shake a feeling of impending distance between her friends. As she silently pulled the door to her home closed, she struggled with herself. The pegasus wouldn’t force herself to believe a lie. She couldn’t claim that she would always think of Strawberry Strudel and Starburst, of the times they spent huddled on worn round pillows, knees covered like little caterpillars by a tight cocoon of blankets as the three talked in her living room or the times spent at her worm-eaten table, playing games together and listening to Strawberry talk about how amazing the newest line of Shortcake Sleeves were and how much the three all simply had to get matching ones. These memories were sweet, but temporary. Despite her insistences that breaking the news to her friends and leaving was the right thing to do, however, Stanza couldn’t deny that she felt wrong. The mare discovered that at this moment, as she watched Starburst linger with silent uncertainty by a streetlight outside her apartment wishing that she had said more, it felt as though the musician would never stop missing the two ponies. The train ticket nesting carnivorously in her saddlebags felt like a portal straight to Tartarus.

Author's Note:

First of all, thank you very much for reading. This is the first actual piece of non-roleplay writing that I've dared share with anyone, and I'm aware that all OC stories probably are not the most often read thing. Because of that, just the fact that you took the time to stick through my story makes me very happy.

While this is my first, feel free to comment. Liked something? Didn't like something? Thought imagery was too heavy in some places or too light in others? Want to tell me that I made some grammatical errors? Think I messed up on tagging somewhere? Just want to mention that you read? Please do!

Comments

[Kaidyn]

This is a great story. While short, it is very powerful as many can relate to the emotions of having to leave a friend behind in order to move on to something bigger. Many can also relate to the feeling of after moving away the very fragile line of communication that may occur between two friends which unless much effort is put in, wavers and disappears over time. This story captures those emotions perfectly and it is a good read. Highly recommended.