Pursuit of happiness

by Reagan

Sunset Ran

Name: Mia Sutherland
Date of Birth: 10th August 1989
Nationality: American
Criminal Records: None

"Is that all?", a man with a skull tattoo and wife beater asked. "Yes.", Sunset Shimmer said.

After leaving the school, she immediately went home, bring almost all the items she had and left home. She pawned her items: Her electronics, motorcycle, all of her bits and gems and her most common clothing in exchange for money and a new set of fake documentation for her to flee. The local black market gave her a birth certificate, passport and background information that suit to her liking. She liked this black market because it can provide as much illicit services without getting caught, and it is coincidentally the first black market she stumbled into.

"Pleasure doing business with you...Mia.", the man said with a smirk and a wink as the girl replied, "Thanks Skull, and goodbye." before leaving.

While changing her identity, she also changed her appearance in the same black market. She is now wearing a grey hoodie with jeans, her hair dyed brown and cut into a pixie. She also manage to buy black coloured contacts from the store and wear fake glasses. She is not just Mia Sutherland by name anymore, she is Mia Sutherland by looks.

She went by to the nearest bus stop. Looking at the notice board, she realised the next bus is coming a few minutes later, so she sit down and waited. She look around the surroundings of Hooftroit city, where she lived. Run down streets, a few beggars sitting, and friends doing drugs together. The first time she came here, she was appalled by the quality of life, but soon she slowly adapted to it. She is supposed to leave sooner, after she stole the crown. Well, she is still leaving now, but not to Equestria. She do not have a goal on where to go, just go as far away as possible. Soon, the bus came, and she hopped into it.

---

Roads, that's all Sunset can see. It's been 5 hours, and almost 2:10 in the afternoon now. She is staring blankly at the window blankly, many cars driving past the bus on the highway she is on. Every time when a bus stops on a bus stop, it is always next to small towns or empty roads. Sunset is not interested in such locations she passed by each of them.

Just when she sighed in hopelessness out of not being able to find a perfect place, she saw a sign in front of her outside the window. 'MANHATTAN 1KM'. Seeing the word 'Manhattan' reminded her of Manehattan back in her homeland, and she found it strange that the only place in America that has the same name as one of the places back in Equestria is Canterlot. Regardless, she decide to ignore the confusing naming conventions as she rested her head on the window. She anticipated on arriving to Manhattan, wanting to find out the similarities and differences between it and Manehattan.

After paying the fare, she hopped off the bus and was immediately entranced by her surroundings. Tall buildings are everywhere along with small shops and restaurants dwarfing it, people in business suits are walking on the streets and cars are crowding the streets, moving like a colony of ants. Minus the cars and modern technology, Sunset can see that Manhattan and Manehattan does not have that huge of a difference. The place is full of business, professionalism and consumerism.

After deciding she had look enough, she proceed to find a temporary place to stay in. Walking down the busy streets, she saw there are many places she want to enter, but she just don't feel like visiting one now. If she remembered correctly, hotels are places where she can book and stay in. Given by her limited money, she need to find a cheap one.

As she continued her walk, it became even more frustrating for her to not be able to find a hotel for her. Giving up, she proceed to ask anybody. She saw in front of her a middle-aged man with slightly white hair in a business suit leaning against a traffic light, looking down at his phone. She tapped the man on the shoulder which prompt her to turn around.

Sunset start the conversation, "Excuse me, do you know any cheap hotels over here?", "How cheap?", "A little over 100 dollars?", "Yeah there's one nearby, just walk the opposite direction you are walking and you will past by the sign that says 42nd street. Then turn right and you will see one.", "Thanks.". The man nodded in appreciation as Sunset walk back the direction she is from.

---

'Soho Hotel', that's the name of this place she is standing in front of as shown by a custom sign hanging above the door. It is a simple yellow concrete building with multiple windows arranged in order and only comprise of a wooden front door which she is standing in front of now. She slowly turn the knob and with a click, she push the swinging barrier open. The interior walls are a thick shade of green, most of the area is empty, except for a glass booth towards her left with an ash tray on the counter and a trash bin beside it. To her left, there are two elevators and a staircase between it. Down the hallway, there's a door to the restroom indicated by the sign of a female and male figure separated by a line.

She went to the counter and ring the bell on it. Soon, the door inside the booth sprung open, revealing a man in his 20s in a red polo shirt with a name tag pierced on it and light brown khakis secured with a belt along with leather shoes. He also has combed back red hair, green skin and a slim figure. He gave a courteous smile towards Sunset and greeted her with a smooth and deep voice, "Welcome to Soho Hotel, my name is Hurwitz and how may I be of service today?". Sunset could not do anything but smile at his courtesy despite managing a cheap hotel, then she replied to him, "I would like to book a room.", "For how many nights?", "2 for now.", "That'll be $254.". Nodding, she pulled out some notes and give him, then he counted the total amount before giving her the change and pick up a book and pen for her. "Fill in your particulars over her.", Sunset nodded again as she jotted down the particulars of Mia Sutherland: Name, Identity Number and the total number of nights she will be staying. After viewing the details, Hurwitz nodded and pass her one of the keys to one of the hotel rooms before saying, "This is your key with your room number, your room is on level 4, enjoy your stay.". Sunset smiled and proceed to the elevator which inside is only illuminated by a small boob light on the ceiling.

"04-323", Sunset thought to herself as she look at her keys before looking to at both sides to see where her room is. She deduced that her right is where the numbers start to increase by order so she slowly walk to her right, checking the numbers one by one. Then she found it, '04-323', right in front of her. Using the key, she opened the door and found a switch next to her. The switch flipped, and the room lit up. The room has white walls and wooden flooring, and in front of her is a standard one person bed with a simple pillow and blanket. In front of the bed is a bulky television on a desk with its remote beside it and behind the bed above it is a window wider than width of the bed with curtains on each side of the frame. Speaking of the desk, the desk still has enough space for customers to put their items, which is more than enough for Sunset as she only had her documentation and wallet with her now. Right in front of her across the bed is another door, presumably to the bathroom.

Sunset unlocked the bathroom and is almost as small as her old one, and only comprise of a sink with a mirror in front, a toilet bowl and a shower. Despite being only 3:30 in the afternoon now according to the clock in the booth she saw, Sunset only feel like staying in her hotel for the rest of the day. So, she stripped her clothing and prepare for a shower.

---

Naked on bed, curtains closed, Sunset mindlessly flipped through the channels every few minutes on the television. Her clothes are drying beside the television on the desk after she rinsed it from the accumulated sweat for the day. She also removed her contacts and glasses, placing the contacts in a cup of water, and placed both of these items beside the television. So far, they only have limited set of channels, most of them showing old movies, commercials and sports events. She then flipped to a news channel, and what she saw made her eyes went wide and force her to lean closer to the television.

"We are hereby reporting today of a missing student from Canterlot High School.", then a picture of her with a smug grin which is used on a yearbook photo appeared beside the host, "Sunset Shimmer, age 16, 11th grade was last seen by her vice-principal riding her motorcycle away from Canterlot High School today at 7 in the morning after finishing her community service for causing a gas leak 6 weeks prior along with crimes of vandalism, invasion of privacy, stealing of private information and blackmailing. She seems to have no familial connections and lives alone in one of the apartments of Hooftroit.", the picture of the contents of the envelope appeared below Sunset's picture, "She also left an envelope at the vice-principal's office. It contained $10000 dollars and a small letter that is addressed to the school, we will place the contents of the letter on our official website. If anybody have any information on this girl, please contact the police hotline.".

"Oh fuck.", Sunset thought to herself, her mouth slightly ajar and pupils shrunk into pinpricks. She specifically told them to never find her, but again luck does not seem to be on her side. The principals are just too concern to deny her request anyway. She want to move on, to never go back to her past again. And most importantly, she had no actual citizenship in any part of this world, there's little to no information in this world's database. If the cops finds out about it, the government will know and she will probably be locked up in a tight security base. Despite her changing her looks and identity, she know this can only do her so much. She need to lay low for a while, try not to do things that will give in too much of her information. So far, the only thing she did that will compromise it was filling the particulars in the hotel, but that will not give in too much as Manhattan is one of the last places she will be expected to be at.

Pushing the thoughts out of her way, she quickly turned off the television and lie down on her bed while being covered with the blanket. No matter how hard she tried, she cannot get the thoughts of her under the radar over her head. She flipped and turned, but cannot find the most comfortable position for her to sleep. Finally after almost an hour, her eyelids grew heavy and she then fell asleep.