Prologue, part 1: A train station to Manehattan

Sweetie Belle stood on the train platform, eagerly awaiting the moment when the train arrives and sweeps her away for a chance at fame and stardom. It was quite a warm day today, as Celestia's mighty sun shone its radiant beams down over the quaint little town of Ponyville. The sky was extraordinarily blue, and the pegasi had cleared it all of clouds, and it would probably remain that way for the next week or so, according to Rainbow Dash. Sweetie Belle smiled at the thought of her friend, and let out a quiet and soft sigh as she thought over her entire plan.

Her plan, in theory, was extremely simple, as long as nopony decided to stop her. You see, Sweetie Belle had come up with an idea after hearing her sister, Rarity, mention something off hoof to her a few, short days ago. Rarity was talking about her recent trip to Manehattan, and how it was the city that dreams were built on. A city that can make you from a nopony, into an anypony. Rarity had told her all about the amazing features of the city, of the beautiful buildings that rose up many, many times taller than anything that was in Ponyville, to the amazing theatres and musicals that were on Bridleway. To the young, impressionable filly that is Sweetie Belle, this seemed like the answer. The way to get her cutie mark, and to make a name for herself, as well as to make Rarity, and the rest of her dear friends proud. While they may not like her going off to Manehattan by herself, and without a doubt, they would try to stop her, she knew, deep within her heart, that the golden streets of Manehattan are where she will make herself.

However, thinking about her friends made her sad, because her thoughts quickly made their way to her two greatest friends in the world: Scootaloo, and Apple bloom. She imagined their faces, the very picture of sadness and confusion, upset that they had not been taken along on this great journey for the illustrious cutie mark in the far off city of Manehattan. Sweetie Belle knew that they had made a promise a while ago that they would find their cutie marks together, as friends, and she could rightly understand their hurt and the sense of utter betrayal that they would feel from her act of leaving Ponyville without them. But she knew that she couldn't tell them. Scootaloo would get excited, and the orange pegasus would only go and accidentally tell somepony, be it Rainbow Dash in the hope that she would go along with it, or to boast in the face of the two brats, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Apple bloom, however, could be more trusted with keeping the plan to herself, but she would probably struggle to find a way to get away from the farm, and the ever watchful eye of her sister, Applejack.

So, no. This is a journey that Sweetie Belle has decided to take on her own, although with doubt and worry plaguing her young filly mind. She wondered what would happen to her if Rarity found out. She feared that she might not even make it in Manehattan, and there was just a small, very small part of her that hoped that the train wouldn't arrive. It hadn't yet, and she wasn't exactly sure when it would, but she did hope that it was soon.

She paused in her thinking and her doubting, and decided to check in her saddlebags to see if she had brought all the things she thought that she needed. Slowly, and carefully, she went through her meager possessions: A generous helping of Bits, which she had saved up for situations like these, a crease and folded flyer of Manehattan, which she had taken from her sisters desk, and also a small amount of light blue and red gems, just in case. She had also taken a larger, green gem, all from Rarity's collection. She knew that she would get into a huge amount of trouble for this, especially since these gems were going to be used on the next dress that her sister was in the middle of designing. The thoughts of her sister getting angry with her upset her, so she focused her concentration on the green gem that she was now held loosely between her hooves. Suddenly, a thought hit her.

She hadn't bought a ticket.

While to some, buying a ticket to the place you're going to is top priority, but in truth, Sweetie Belle hadn't thought that far ahead. She just had the idea of going to Manehattan, and had decided that the actual getting there could be sorted out later. It was only now, when she was so close to getting to Manehattan that the ticket slipped into her mind.

She didn't have enough Bits for a ticket, and the sign next to the ticket booth clearly stated that gems were not an expectable form of currency for a ticket.

It all seemed hopeless to Sweetie Belle at this point. With no ticket, she couldn't possibly get to Manehattan, and if she couldn't get to Manehattan, then how was she possibly going to rise to the top, earn her cutie mark, and impress her sister?

Tears began to form at the corners of her large, green eyes, and she felt the large gem slip from her small hooves. It hit the floor with a sharp clink, and through blurry eyes, she saw it roll away from her.

She watched it, as the tears ebbed down her face, readying herself to go back home to Rarity, to forget the idea, and focus on other activities, like she normally did with Apple bloom and Scootaloo. However, the gem came to a halt; it had been stopped by a hoof, one clad in soft black fabric, which was connect to a stallion who had just arrived at the platform.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, and for a moment Sweetie Belle said nothing. But then she had an idea.

This stallion could help her get to Manehattan…