Night Train to New York

by jz1

Caged

Philadelphia, June 1979

The Sun set over the human city. Ordinarily, this would not be an unusual sight - just another summer night in the last year of the decade. However, when one had spent the last two hundred decades raising and lowering the Sun on a daily basis, watching it do so on its own was a fascinating sight.

Of course, watching was about all that Celestia could do. Considering that the trip into the human world, through the wormhole Twilight - and how proud she was that Twilight had done so - had created in space and time and into the world of the humans, was supposed to be all about her, it was surprising how little she’d actually been able to do.

Thus far, the trip had been a whirlwind excursion of all the finest conference rooms, hotel suites, reception halls, office buildings, armored cars, and secure trains the humans had to offer. The closest that Celestia had come to sightseeing was looking outside the window of the impressively fast trains the humans used to shuttle her between New York City and Washington DC, and looking out at the view outside her hotel room. And even that was dependent on her security detail not creating tactical cloudbanks to block attacks from ranged weaponry. (She had tried informing Commander Steel that her Alicorn immortality was unlikely to fade away just because she was outside of Canterlot Castle, but to no avail. The recent ‘incidents’ in Equestria’s history meant that her Royal Protective Detail was much less likely to care about comfort over safety.)

Fortunately this hotel had been hastily refitted with ‘bulletproof glass’, thus allowing her to have an actual view. She wasn’t sure if she preferred the cloudbank. At least then she wouldn’t know what she was missing. The city spread out beneath her like a tapestry of lights. It was bigger than Canterlot, Manehattan, and Los Pegasus put together, and from visiting New York City, she knew it wasn’t even the biggest city in the United States, let alone the world.

The Japanese and Mexican ambassadors to the United Nations had engaged in a friendly argument over which country had the claim of the largest city in the world. It had come down to brass tacks, defining what counted as a city and what was ‘the metro area’. The topic fascinated her, that such a difference was even possible. There was no such concept as a ‘metro area’ in Equestria - there didn’t need to be, but the humans had so many people that they’d decided to make a differentiating term.

She’d almost asked her staff to put Tokyo or Mexico City on their tour, to add it to the maelstrom of cities and countries already vying for her attention - Moscow, London, Ottawa, Cairo, New Dehli, Addis Ababa, Brasilia; China: People’s Republic and Republic of - but had decided against it. There was no need to visit more places just to satisfy her own curiosity, especially when she couldn’t even visit them.

She pressed her snout against the thick glass, wondering for a moment if a childish temper tantrum would actually get her anything. The city was Right. There! She could see it! And yet she couldn’t touch it - couldn’t interact with it.

Like a bird in a cage.

She honestly could have moped about it all night - sat there in front of the window as the human city slowly lit up under the light of the crescent moon. Luna wouldn’t stand for this. She thought to herself. Luna would be out there - in the lights of the city.

Even as she thought it she could picture the scene in her mind.

Luna, who normally eschewed her protective details out of spite, would have been out and about at every opportunity. Luna would have jumped at the chance to make her guards squirm and would have gratefully accepted every invitation to visit anything - like Celestia had wanted to - instead of politely turning them down because it meant less headache for her staff.

That’s why this hurts so much. She mused, rubbing her hoof along the window frame. It’s not just that I’m a caged bird wanting to be free - it’s that I got into the cage willingly.

When did I start acting like this? Like my desires don’t matter? Was it so long ago that my little ponies don’t even think I have any? She thought about New York - about how seemingly everypony in the delegation had visited a pizzeria at some point - the city was famous for them, and for good reason, if their glowing reviews were any indication.

Everypony, that is, except her. Even when Per Diem had had four whole pies delivered to the Royal Floor, she had eaten meals created by her personal chef. Nopony had asked if she wanted any - including her.

And why would they? She thought in a mocking version of her own accent. The Royal Tastebuds must never touch such common foodstuffs. They must only contact the finest meals in all the land!

That night she’d eaten a meal that most of the Canterlot nobles would have given several of their limbs to taste. It was created from the finest ingredients in Equestria, and made by master chefs who cooked exclusively for the palace even when she traveled abroad - ponies who had devoted their very lives to serving her.

And it turned to ash on her tongue as she listened to her staff enjoy four large cheese and mushroom pizzas from Lipanelli’s on 37th Street.

I could have asked. She thought bitterly as she watched train traffic rumble across a bridge in the distance. They would have fallen over themselves to give me every slice they had. They would have ordered more. All I had to do was ask.

And I won’t. Because Princess Celestia doesn’t do that. Her eyes watered a little bit as she realized that it was her own actions that had brought her to this point. I wear this crown so well that nopony realizes that there’s a pony underneath it.

All I would have to do is show them that I’m a pony too, like Twilight and Luna, but - “OW!”

She was jolted out of her ruminations by a sharp pain in her hoof. Pulling it back revealed a tiny spot of blood. “And this is why Steel is so paranoid…” She muttered to herself as she inspected the window sill for the culprit. Alicorn immortality didn’t mean she was invulnerable, even to… “Aha!” A small glazing sprig that was poking out of the redone window frame. When she’d absently rubbed her hoof over the sill, she’d driven it into her frog just enough to draw blood.

In the washroom, she gently wiped the blood off, before casting a healing spell to seal the wound. It really wouldn’t do for me to get an infection from a nail. She thought, mentally recounting the number of times in the past two weeks she’d heard the human proverb about horseshoe nails.

As she turned to leave, she heard a noise she hadn’t before - it sounded like the city - which was unusual, as the glass in her room was thick enough to repel not only weapons, but also sounds. Following the sound to the source revealed that there was a small window over the bathtub/shower, hidden behind a shower curtain. Tapping the glass, she realized that unlike the massive picture window in her suite, the bathroom window was not made of thick, layered glass that was permanently attached to the frame. It was normal, thin glass, with a little crank next to it.

She stared at the crank for a moment. If she really was the goody-four-hooves Princess that everypony thought she was, she should turn around and tell somepony about this obvious lapse in security. She really should tell somepony. Really. As much as she disliked making problems for her staff, this was something that they should be made aware of.

Maybe she would tell them, but not right now. Now…

She reached out with her magic, unlatching the window and turning the crank. The window opened, allowing the sounds of the city to enter the bathroom, carried on a stiff breeze that blew through her ethereal mane. She took a moment to savor the feeling - the last time she’d been able to just stand and enjoy the breeze had been the morning of her departure from Canterlot.

After a few minutes, the feeling wore off, and she realized that she was standing in a bathroom, half into a bathtub, just to get a bit of breeze. “What am I doing?” She asked herself, feeling a little ridiculous - she had briefing papers to read over for the morning, she couldn’t just stand here all night.

Sighing, she turned and left the bathroom, leaving the window open. The breeze would feel nice later.

That’s right little birdy - back into your cage. A harsh voice in the back of her head brought her up short. Hadn’t she just been complaining about being trapped in here?

“That’s ridiculous,” She said to herself as she trotted back into the bathroom. “I’m being ridiculous. It isn’t even big enough to…”

She trailed off. The window was big enough - just barely.

“No. I can’t. I’m being dramatic.” She turned to leave the bathroom again. She really did have work to do. She couldn’t just get up and run off because she felt-

Tweet tweet tweet! Lock me up and throw away the key! Let Luna and Cadance have all the fun!

That did it. Celestia took a few measured steps into the suite, reached the far wall, turned around, and galloped for the bathroom. Two steps before the tub she took a giant leap - out the window and away from the hotel.

And then she was flying.

Comments

[Admiral Biscuit]

The worst prison is the prison of one’s own making.

Fly free, Celestia. You have wings, you were meant to be in the air.

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[Venerable Ro]

Man I wish I wasn't on mobile, so I could get We're Not Gonna Take It cranking.

Note to self, come back and edit in song...

Edit: edited.

Tweet tweet tweet! Lock me up and throw away the key! Let Luna and Cadance have all the fun!

That did it. Celestia took a few measured steps into the suite, reached the far wall, turned around, and galloped for the bathroom. Two steps before the tub she took a giant leap - out the window and away from the hotel.

And then she was flying.

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

That did it. Celestia took a few measured steps into the suite, reached the far wall, turned around, and galloped for the bathroom. Two steps before the tub she took a giant leap - out the window and away from the hotel.

Her security detail is going to see this & assume she was abducted.
They will FREAK.
She should have left a note.

[Cerulean Blue]

That's gotta hurt, visiting a foreign place and not once eating the food there

[Bahamuttone]

Uh... couldn’t she just teleport?
I understand the psychological need of the window to get the desire of going out... but the size is somewhat irrelevant (and troublesome... Celestia is horse sized, that is going to be a HUGE window to overlook ^^;;;)

[Blitz the Dragon]

1979 you say? Well lemme just set up some appropriate mood music as Tia ventures out into the human world.

[p0nypanda]

10584566
Between that and the miniscule amount of blood she left behind, I'm pretty sure they're going to assume she was assassinated.

[Goldfur]

Celestia was so stressed that she forgot that she can teleport!

[jz1]

10594091
10586342
She didn't forget - the idea of even leaving didn't occur to her until she saw the open window. As for why she didn't teleport directly to New York, that's explained in the next chapter.

[redandready45]

10585109

Anne Boonchuy feels the same way.