Chapter VII: Arrival
Chapter VII: Arrival
The night passed by in silence. By ten o'clock, none of the girls wanted to keep playing, especially after Rainbow's outburst, so they all went to sleep. Applejack didn't leave your side at all, instead deciding to sleep next to you for the night. You said that she didn't need to, but she insisted, and you didn't want to argue much about it, so you just let her.
Even after they had fallen asleep, you didn't close your eyes for a few more hours. Until then, you found yourself looking outside the window, and with each passing minute, you were waiting for the sound of the car door opening, and Rainbow Dash would float back into bed.
But she never came back into the car, so you assumed she was going to sleep at the end for the night.
You didn't bother worrying about her anymore for the moment. She wanted to be alone, so be it.
Focusing on trying to sleep, you close your eyes after a couple of hours of looking at the dark environment before you. For a few minutes, you feel as if you were ready to fall asleep at any moment. But no matter what, you couldn't drift off. You weren't cold, and you weren't hot, nor were there any other complications, yet you couldn't just go to sleep.
You must have spent at least half an hour tossing and turning in the bed, but you tried not to move too much, as you didn't want to wake Applejack.
After thirty minutes of struggling to sleep, you let out a gentle sigh and begin to get out of bed, hovering gently over Applejack, being careful not to nudge or fall on her accidentally.
With perfect success, you manage to reach the aisle of the car without making a noise. Folding your wings back up, you begin to take a look at your surroundings.
As you already had known, all of the girls and Spike were sound asleep. The lights of the train car were out, encasing the place in near darkness, had it not been for the moon. The car rattled and shook very slightly from the bumpiness of the ground beneath it. Every now and again, there would be a powerful bump, but nothing too serious but knock a painting down.
Not wanting to cause a ruckus, you once more hover upward and search for a chair to sit down in. Rather than a chair, you notice what appeared to be a comfortable looking couch near the opposite side of the car, nearer front.
Deciding to sit on that instead, you gently float down onto it and quietly plop yourself onto it, quickly enveloped into its cushions. Already, you knew it was much more comfortable than those beds, maybe even more so than the ones at the end of the train.
Not more than a few seconds later, you were feeling much more relaxed than you had been on that mattress, and you were already beginning to feel tired, to your surprise.
A part of you wanted to stay awake, keep looking out the window, and stare at the endless and black landscape.
But that other part of you really loved how comfortable this couch was.
A bit too comfortable.
So it didn't take a judge to know which part won.
You didn't wake up until close to ten o'clock in the morning, when Fluttershy had woken you up. Quite odd, really. You assumed Applejack would have been the one to wake you up, what with her being around you a lot recently.
Out of somewhat instinctive care for your shy friend, you ask her if anything was wrong upon waking up.
"Oh, nothing's wrong," she replied calmly and quietly, "Twilight just wanted me to tell you we're just getting ready to stop."
"The train's here already?"
With a smile, she nodded. The way she did it you always found cute.
Thanking her, you gently get up from the couch and stretch. With a yawn, you feel the cracking of your bones, and you moan slightly in the intense sensation of every bone in your body tensing and relaxing.
Once fully stretched, you get up and get ready to head into the storage area to retrieve your saddles, but a little look at the window to your left grabs your attention.
Walking over, you take a good look at the window and watch, in full glory, Manehattan standing tall and proud into the sky.
With a 'whoa,' you give a grin of what felt like excitement, like a kid on Hearth's Warming day opening his presents.
The city was massive, much more massive than Baltimare or Cloudsdale. Hundreds of buildings, spanning different lengths and heights, plagued the island, and even from here, if you opened your windows and listened real close, you would be able to hear the sound of distant chatters and screams.
Of course, the screams could be a number of things, ranging from laughter to anger and many other reasons.
It honestly surprised you how loud the city could be, even from such a great distance.
The train wasn't very far from the island upon you first seeing the city. You were bound to reach the station within the next couple of minutes.
A part of you couldn't wait to depart, but another part of you wanted to sit down and relax a little while longer.
Eventually, you decide that sleep could wait a while. With the little bit of morning strength you had, you head off into the direction of the storage car to grab your luggage. As you travel in between cars, your surroundings dim for a moment. Only for a second did you question it before you realized that the train had entered the subway tunnels, signaling that it was close to its destination.
As you enter the storage car, you notice that Spike is already here, grabbing what must have been Rarity's luggage and preparing it to be moved.
Taking further steps towards him, he begins to hear your movements and looks up to you. His cheerful hums fade to nothing, and his cheerful smile fades to a look of sympathy.
After a few moments of silence, he says, "...Hey."
You manage to greet him a couple seconds later, lifting a smile, and you begin walking over to where you had last put your satchels. On the way, Spike asks how you were doing today. It took a moment for you to respond, but you simply stated that you were fine. It was only very little a lie, but you honestly did feel better this morning, much better than last night, definitely.
As you grab your bags, you hear the sound of the door nearest to the back begin to open. You knew regardless that it was Rainbow, so you decide to distract yourself by assisting Spike, who seemed to be having trouble picking up a couple of suitcases.
"Let me help you with that," you say as you walk over to him.
Grabbing the suitcases, you found yourself surprised in their weight, despite their small size. It was as if she was carrying a dozen golden ingots in each of them. Luckily, while Rarity had a lot of luggage, it wasn't stacks high, so you were able to easily place them on top of each other with out much of a problem.
As you did so, Rainbow walks past you. While she greets Spike, she doesn't greet or acknowledge you at all. Spike does call her out on it, asking if she forgot something, to which she replies, "Nope," slamming the car door behind her.
With a grunt of frustration, Spike resumes collecting the luggage while arguing about Rainbow's attitude.
"I don't get why she keeps acting like that. Seriously, you accidentally trip, and now it's like she's a completely different pony!"
"I probably would too if someone burned down a house," you say casually as you stack another suitcase.
With a look of slight anger---not to you, of course---Spike replies, "HEY. That was not your fault."
You look at him with eyes that show of guilt.
"It IS my fault, Spike. I tripped and I caused that fire. I CAUSED that house to burn down. It's MY fault that we're in this situation. MY fault that she's like that. And I don't think that some trip to a city's gonna change that. It's not like it's gonna make me forget it happened."
You didn't want to argue with Spike. You didn't want to argue with your best bud. And a part of you wanted to think that it wasn't your fault.
But all it takes for you to change your thought is remembering that you were the one who tripped.
Spike doesn't add to the conversation, but doesn't feel anger or frustration to your opinion, and you two finish placing the luggage onto the cart. Once it was sure and done, Spike begins to head back to the others first. But you stop him mid-way, to which he turns with that face of concern again, asking what you wanted.
As you walk up to him, you hold out a hoof towards him and ask, "We still cool?"
It doesn't take long for him to smile and bump his fist with your hoof.
"Yeah."
With a smile, you pat him on the back---like the common movie pals---and the two of you head back to the girls.
Entering the car, you notice that the train is still inside the tunnel system. Prompting a question, you head over to Twilight and ask her how long before we reach our stop.
"It's the next stop," she replies as you pass by one of the few stops.
While the train was going a decent enough speed for things to zip by, you were still able to get a good view of the platform. You expected maybe a few ponies here and there, or maybe a little less than twenty.
Oh no. It was packed---crowded---overflowing with ponies waiting for their train to arrive. It was like a big mob or horde of ponies standing, sitting, or doing whatever while they waited, and that alone gave you a good view on how populated Manehattan really was. The stations in Baltimare had less than thirty ponies per platform, but here, it looked like more than fifty, maybe nearly a hundred.
Of course, a hundred was just a guess, but it couldn't have been far off.
Nonetheless, the train eventually exited the tunnel, and you are given a good view of the city from within. While the city looked normal and common like Baltimare or Cloudsdale, the ponies living here were somewhat close to that of the ponies from Canterlot. Of course, it shouldn't come as a surprise to you, what with Applejack explaining having come here as a filly, but it did manage to surprise you regardless.
However, while a majority of the ponies looked posh and proper, some looked like casual town-folk, rather than city-folk. In Baltimare, everypony was casual and normal, as the city wasn't a place of glamour or fashion. But every once in a while, you would have seen a posh pony walking about in the streets. Some were easy to get along with; others thought the world was their slave.
That was why you didn't make all that many friends growing up.
A couple more minutes pass, and finally, the train reaches the station, somewhere close towards the Grand Park. Making sure you had both satchels on your sides, you head over to the exit door and open it.
Almost immediately, your view is filled with a mass array of ponies, young and old, all standing about on the platform, and already, you can feel a pressure push in on your chest. You never dealt with Claustrophobia in your life, but just standing here in this crowd was making it so.
C'mon, move already!, you think to yourself as you're trying to maneuver your way past the ponies.
At some points, you would accidentally bump into a pony. While some would apologize, others---the posh ones---would call you a 'dirty local' or go 'Well, I never!' like you were badmouthing them or intentionally trying to harm them.
It was ponies like these that made you hate going to Canterlot sometimes.
As much as you rarely used the word, glamour ponies were dicks. Period.
Eventually, you make it towards the railings that overlook the street below, and you let out a breath of fresh air, the pressure in your chest having finally released, but you continue to breathe in and out---calmly, but needing.
A few moments pass before the others manage to make it through the crowd, a majority of them now on the train you were just on.
Twilight was the first to ask if you were okay.
A moment later, you give an assuring nod while still taking in air. You didn't think you would have been this out of breath just from---what, ten, fifteen seconds?
"Darling, you don't happen to be---Claustrophobic, do you?" Rarity asks with a curious tone.
"I---hahh---I'm not---huff---even sure---phew---at this point."
"Oh, he's just overreacting," Rainbow couldn't help but claim.
Maybe it was just your lack of air or something else, but for some reason, you snapped right back at her.
"Yeah, no, I'm totally faking struggling to breathe after marching through a thick crowd of ponies. Just for show, no reason at all! I deserve a bucking medal, right?!"
And for the first time, you saw Rainbow, despite her irritated posture, look back at you with widened eyes, as did most of the girls, even Spike.
"... Sorry," you couldn't help but apologize, blaming the hot air.
Yeah, that might have been it. Just the air.
Just after eleven o'clock, you and the others sat inside a Donut shop, called Blazin' and Glazin'. It was a cheesy name for a shop, but damn, were their donuts good.
While the majority of the girls at the large table were chatting about to each other---even Spike joined in at some point---you were silently eating away at one of your donuts, taking in the extreme taste of the glaze that covered each one. You even sprinkled a bit of cinnamon on them at some point, and that only made it even better.
Every once in a while, you would take a peak at the group, and every time you looked, Rainbow Dash was never talking to them, nor was she looking at them. She was doing almost the same thing as you, eating quietly at her donuts. Her face, while it was blank and not the most positve around, had a look of---thought to it, like she was in deep thinking.
At some point, she looked up and her eyes met yours, to which she turned away, that irritable look back on her face.
None of the girls seemed to notice this, having been a bit too deep in their discussion to notice the two of you mentally bickering at each other.
You didn't bother doing anything else to get her attention, so you went back to eating your donut, then moving onto the next one.
The stay at the shop lasted for nearly an hour, and by the time you and the others left, it was nearly noon. Still carrying luggage, you all decide to head to a hotel and rest for a bit before going out.
Rarity suggested the Mane Fair Hotel. From what you know, they had originally been to that hotel last year, when Rarity had gone for Fashion Week. To their misfortune, you weren't able to attend, having been on a trip to Las Pegasus to attend an old friend's wedding.
Everything was great, but the bride was a bitch. And from Rarity's accounts, that Suri mare was a bitch too.
None of the girls had objected to it, and neither did you. Without hesitation, the eight of you made your way to the hotel, which was surprisingly not too far from where the shop had been, just a couple of blocks away, having taken a little over five minutes to reach by walking.
Once you arrive at the hotel, Rarity goes up to the front desk and checks everypony in. The desk-clerk gave her the key to their hotel room, and you made your way to the elevators.
Unfortunately, due to Rarity's...large luggage capacity, you and Spike were the only ones able to fit in the elevator with the tray. You did apologize, but Twilight remarked that it was fine, that they would climb the stairs instead.
"We'll see you upstairs," the mare adds just as the doors close.
With a slight jolt, the elevator begins to move upward, and though mechanical sounds filled the air, it was silent vocally. Eventually, after a few seconds of silence, Spike opens his mouth and asks:
"What was that before?"
Confused, you look at him, though he didn't notice. "Hmm?"
Replying, he adds, "At the train, I mean. The way you talked to Dash like that. I've never seen you act like that before."
Looking back to the doors, you try to come up with a proper response.
"I don't know, really. The air, I guess? Maybe it was because of her comment?" You couldn't help but shrug. "I don't know."
Spike doesn't answer the question right away, but silence instead fills the air for a couple of seconds. As the ding of the elevator signals that you've reached your floor---the eighth floor---Spike gives his opinion.
"Well, whatever it was... good for you."
You couldn't help but let out a brief sigh.
"What for? It's not like it really did anything."
Spike didn't add anything, but he kept on moving. You followed behind him, pushing the cart forward while he pulled. It didn't take very long to find the room, room 804, but without the key, the two of you were forced to wait another minute or two for the others to reach the floor.
Once they did, you heard them emerge from a doorway to your far right. It took only a couple of moments for them to spot you.
Keycard in aura, Rarity inserted it into its slot, and with a confirming beep, she opened the door, and already, you could recognize that hotel-room smell. You remembered that smell as a young colt, and it never left your mind. Just smelling it now brought you back by many years.
"Oh wow," Rarity sparked, "they really have changed this place quite a lot since the last time we were in here!"
Whispering to Spike, you ask, "This is the same room you guys were in?"
"Yup."
To be honest, you were a little amazed. They were going to stay in the same hotel, in the same room, and sleep in the same beds for the same amount of time as last year, a week.
It was kind of interesting to you. Why?
The next half hour after entering the room mostly revolved around you and the girls, along with Spike, unpacking your luggage and making sure you had everything.
Rarity's unpacking was bound to take more than an hour, maybe longer than too, but---to no surprise---Spike didn't mind handing suitcases to her for an hour or more.
The others mostly had one single suitcase. As you inspected them, you noticed that, while they had their common essentials, there were clothes in each case.
You didn't suppose they were for any formal occasion?
But looking closer, you noticed that the clothing was really bathing suits, Pinkie even having what appeared to be scuba gear. Typical of her, you thought.
You didn't bring any clothing, nor did you bring any swimming gear, seeing as you never needed shorts to go swimming. Usually, you would just shake yourself off like a dog and let yourself dry.
Or maybe use a towel. Likely a towel.
For you, unpacking what you had took less than five minutes. You honestly had no need to bring a great load of things that you would have to cram back into a suitcase when you left. You thought that was too much work.
As they say: Work smarter, not harder.
Not long after, you found yourself a bit parched, quite possibly from the donuts, so you told the others that you would be right back. Stepping out into the hallway, you recall seeing a vending machine along the hallway.
Halfway down the hall, you find a small corridor with couple of counters with excess cups, a sink, a water fountain, and a soda vending machine.
With your satchel still on you, you take out your wallet and pull out a couple of bits and insert them into the machine. Looking over the choices, you decide to go with Jizzy Fizzy. Never in your life will you ever get how wrong the title of the drink sounds.
But damn everything, it tastes so good.
With the satisfying thud of the soda as it lands in the small compartment, you reach in and grab the can. Looking at the contents of the can---the title and color of the can---you nearly burst into fits of chuckles.
The word Jizzy and the color white really don't go too well together on some occasions.
Regardless, you open the can and take a sip, and already, you feel at ease, like a weight had been lifted off your shoulders, even just for a moment. You sigh as you sit down in a nearby chair, and as you do, you take in your surroundings, visually and audibly.
Visually, the hallway was empty; this had been the first time in two days that you have really been alone, if you discount the back of the train yesterday. It felt a little chilling, as if you were the only one in the entire hotel, like it was completely empty, ghostly.
Sound-wise, that wasn't the case. You could hear the sound of a young foal crying in one room, and the sound of grown ponies laughing and playing about in another. Putting your ear up to a nearby wall to another room, you could hear the muffled moans of what must have been a loudly fornicating couple.
They need to make the walls sound-proof next time---well, if any of them are unicorns, of course.
It takes you a few minutes to finish your soda; once finished, you crumple the can and throw it in a nearby garbage can before heading back to the room.
As you open the door---to your surprise---Rarity has already finished unpacking, and only after twenty or so minutes. Of course, Spike helped a bit, but you didn't expect her to be done for at least another hour.
Oh well, you think. It was better than taking an hour, at least.
As you somewhat expected, Spike was given a complimentary pet on the head by Rarity, as well as a little kiss to the cheek, to which it looks like he nearly fainted from.
"Well," she begins, "It looks like we're done here for now."
Walking to the door and passing you by, she stops just in front of the door before turning around to the group, a smirk on her face.
"Who wants to go shopping?"
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I like dark stuff and this stuff seems to be dark, I will check how dark it is
Man, that drink sure sounds good.
Oh lordy lordy... wat even?
Ahhhh man, I keep rereading the description and I keep getting sadder Dx
Oh well, can't be helped.
Yeah me! I yelled back... maybe that's what I (He?) should do, yell back at Rainbow or something.
Awesome job!
Keep it up.
I don't normally read dark fics, but this one certainly has caught my attention. Upvoted and tracking. Looking forward to the next chapters!
Hey, look at that, Night! Gettin' more attention already!
6182832 Thanks!
Looks like he's finally growing some balls, finally!
Okay story on its own is really good cause it dosnt leave you in the dark with how anyone's feelings and scenery but then there's the comody that makes me laugh, like jizzy fizzy? Oh I died there, coulda been colta cola but no jizzy fizzy sounded nice XD amazing work again Mr. Night!
6182916 Yeah, It's nice to see to protagonist showing some spine, haha.
Its a good thing the soda wasn't called Fizzy Jizzy
6183428 I'unno, I think the original name is just as bad. xD
This is getting pretty interesting! Can't wait for the next chapter!
Its comin... Ohhhhhh its comin.... and it. will be. MAGNIFICENT!!!!
6183428 I missed an opportunity. :'(
This story is amazing can't wait tell next chapter
I gotta say, it's nice to not have to wait a week for every few chapters.
6183605 I know. I got sick of the schedule a week in and decided, "Screw it."
Well, that soda sounds quite good if I do say so myself, lol can't wait until the next chapter, also, it's about time this guy grew some and snapped back at Rainbow Dash, that really felt good lol, great work
6183622 Yeah, I'm glad. I was worried I wouldn't be able to get to the end for another few weeks. xD
smell that.... encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSRub5cbwvLgX772VAY4loHm2hPySHmLW58BkRbT_BK5vpNQGAnVg
Fucking love this story, (now if you excuse me i need to get more popcorn and hide in the bunker)
6183807 Haha! Yeah, my Sandy-Sense is tingling...
Very late, I shall read this in the morning.
A tiny nitpick that's bugging me is, why aren't the rest of the Mane 6 saying/doing anything when Rainbow starts being a dick? No one calls her out on it, no one puts their hoof down to say 'enough is enough'. They just stand there and listen to Rainbow shout abuse at the poor colt, then offer shoulder pats to him after. They aren't exactly helping the situation at all because they aren't doing anything to try and stop it.
And on that note, if AJ really was put off by everything Rainbow was telling her the night of the party why didn't she say anything to Dash? She's the Element of Honesty, not exactly becoming of her to lie to her friend's face and agree with the horrible things she was saying.
She might be Dash's friend, but that's all the more reason to call her out.
6184431 I'm also surprised the protagonist deals with the shit RD gives him, those off-hand comments are some of the most annoying thing to hear, and I'm surprised he hasn't yelled at her yet.
At least I know I would have a long time ago.
I never thought a story like this would suck me in like this. I was especially emotional during the main character's breakdown in Applejack's arms (forelegs?) on the train ride. And his bite back at the station was well done.
Aside from a few minor flaws in plot and pacing, I am seriously enjoying this story.
Liked, faved, and tracking. Keep it up.
6184283 SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK!
6184496 I agree with the pacing, but the next few chapters are a bit more extended. One chapter is nearly 20,000 words, so you've got that to look forward to.
Glad you enjoy the story!
6184350 That's why I said that some thing she shouldn't have said, but even though, sometimes when someone is enraged, the person tends to develope a temporary hatred and a desire to hurt, whethere by words or violence, depends on th eindividual, that's why even though those insults were bad, I understand where they come from, that also don't excuse her, only shows that she has problems of controlling herself.
"Spike and I were the only ones able to fit in the elevator with the tray."
Do you mean Spike and you, you and Spike... In any way not in second person speech?
Spoilerlines just in case.
Easily the most intense drinking scene I've ever read.
That happened...
"And I don't think that some trip to a city's gonna change that. It's not like it's gonna make me forget it happened."
Yeah... that's what you think...
6184530
YES
CUZ I PLAY MINECRAFT
I like this Spike and you(?) dynamic It's comforting to see.
is it bad that i nearly choked to death when i saw 'Jizzy Fizzy'? because i nearly died.