A/N: OHGAWD. I meant to upload this like forEVER ago D: So much got in the way. Camp, my German friend visiting, band camp, my random trip to Gettysburg, band camp again... so busy. Now I'm camped out in my room hiding from my mother because I'm supposed to be working on my H-English assignments. Blarg. Whatever.
It's truly surprising how much change is laying in the side of the road in Manehattan. I manage to gather up ten more bits making a grand total of fifteen while I led myself to the train dock. That prideful part of me congratulated my innate sense of direction and epic street smarts. The smarter part of me fist pumped at my awesome luck. Nonetheless, I made it into the station and to a ticket kiosk.
The way it seemed to work was different kiosks for different ponies. Maybe? There were unicorns lined up behind a flat panel sticking out of the wall. Earth ponies were navigating a big boxy thing with boxy buttons that looked like the kiosks of Derry. Pegasi were...I'm not sure. It was a box, too, but they weren't commingling with the earth ponies so it must have been different.
It took me five minutes of staring at the machine before realizing that I had no idea what to do. I couldn't tell if it was a touch screen or not or what ever the heck...
My eyes began to tear up. I never cried but this was threatening to overwhelm me. I was thrown into a new city, a new country, a new world, a new body. All I wanted was to get home, not Ponyville! I looked around frantically and saw dirty looks being thrown at me from impatient unicorns while I struggled to work the kiosk.
Someone (or somepony, you get the picture) tapped my shoulder. I jumped and looked around, my eyes wide and worried. I saw a vest-wearing unicorn little old lady-pony giving me the most grandmotherly look I'd ever gotten from someone who wasn't my grandmother.
"Are you alright, sweetie?"
I shook my head, eyes tearing again. "N-no..."
She nodded sympathetically. "Oh, dearie, what's the trouble?"
I looked down at the kiosk. "Please don't think I'm dumb but I can't work the ticket thingy..."
She walked shakily up to the screen and stared intently at it. "Where is it you want to go?"
I sniffed and readjusted the guitar on my back. "Ponyville. As soon as possible."
Quick as a flash-not unlike the white light that glared from her horn and into my retinas-the screen flipped through different pages. She slid five bits into the machine and it soon began printing a ticket. I looked at the woman-pony! I have to remember this...-with green eyes full of gratitude and saline. The white glow wrapped up her horn and the ticket as well. She floated it over to me. "Take this, dearie, and hop onto the number four over on the third platform. The trip will be overnight and you'll arrive in the morning."
I grinned. "Thank you so much!" I stared at the ticket for a moment. Did I take it with my mouth? Or my hooves? What?
The little old lady-pony raised a brow. "Aren't you going to use your magic, hon?"
I blinked uncomprehensively and then my eyes shot up. There, just in my peripheral, was that horn. It wasn't doing anything. Just sittin pretty and mocking me with its lack of glow. Grab the ticket~ I willed the damned thing. I could almost hear it smirking up there. The jerk.
I stammered, trying to find an explanation. "W-well, ya see, I have...a cold! Yes, a cold. And my, uh, magic is making...me...sneeze." Smooth.
She blinked and moved the ticket lower. "Well, then, dear," she coughed a bit awkwardly, "just grab it and go. Train is pulling in any minute now."
I snagged the slip out of the air and mumbled around it. "Yef, fankoo sooo mut! Yer da beft!" And I galloped away like an awkward moron. And I could actually gallop.
The train was already there when I skid onto the scene. A pony in a blue conductor's cap and a rather silly mutton chop beard grinned jovially and raised a hoof to the side of his mouth...muzzle...however it works, I'll learn. "The train to Ponyville is about to leave! All aboard who's coming aboard!"
I panted a bit, ticket clenched in my teeth. "Geff dat means me." I adjusted the guitar further onto my back and joined the last stragglers in an empty seeming car. Finding a seat off in the corner by my lonesome, I stared into the window and blinked sorrowful green eyes. The pale faced reflection blinked back beneath brown and blonde bangs and a prominent horn. That really was me.
My eyes filled with tears again and I covered my face with the sleeve of my hoodie. I tried to stay silent but apparently my shaking was more than noticeable. A hand-hoof, dammit!-touched my shoulder. "You alright there, sugarcube?"
I froze. I knew that southern twang. It was unmistakably one of Ashleigh Ball's most famous voices ever. I lowered my foreleg and looked up with wide eyes. I could not believe what I was seeing. It really was-
"What seems ta be the matter, pardner?" she spoke.
My voice didn't want to work. "I-I, uh, I-"
She sat down across from me. "Ah've never seen you before, an' thanks ta my friend Pinkie Pie, Ah know everypony in town. What's bringing ya to Ponyville?"
I looked down. Eye contact has never been a favorite thing of mine despite my outgoing nature. "I-I don't have anywhere else to go."
She sighed. "Ah'm so sorry ta hear that. Do you have family down there?"
I propped my chin on a hoof. "My family is nowhere near here or anywhere I can get to. I don't have anyplace that I can stay but I'm going to Ponyville 'cause it's small and I'll know people."
The orange pony scratched her hat. "People?"
"Er, ponies."
"Oh."
"Ya," I continued. "Maybe I'd find a job and scrape up cash to rent somewhere...maybe."
We sat there in silence for a while before she put out a hoof. "Mah name's Applejack. Ah think Ah might be able ta help you out."
I took her hoof timidly and we shook. "What do you mean?"
She tipped back her stetson and smiled. "Why, a place to stay, ahcourse. Least till yer back on yer hooves. Maybe y'all can work with me to earn yer keep."
My eyes lit up. "Really!? Oh, thank you, Applejack! I'm so grateful, I really am! Everybody here is just so much nicer than where I'm from! I mean, everybody is nice but here they go out of their way just to be nice! Except the people on the street but I'm used to that, it's just like Pittsburgh or something but the people not on the street are so nice Like you and and Fourth String and the little old unicorn lady-pony who-"
Applejack shoved a hoof in my mouth. "Slow down there, sugarcube! Y'all are gonna need a nap if ya keep runnin yer mouth so fast!" My face burned red as she removed her hoof. "Yer just like Pinkie Pie in that way. That girl can't slow her words ta save her life! Here Ah thought you were gonna be as quiet as mah friend Fluttershy. That's quiet for ya."
A glimmer entered my heart and I knew exactly what was gonna happen for the next hours. "Wow, AJ. Your friends sound awesome! Tell me about them!"
Applejack leaned back. "Aw, shucks. Ya really wanna hear about the same five girls for the rest o'the trip?"
I clapped my hooves together. "Yes!"
"Don't y'all got yer own friends ta think about?"
I let my arms-forelegs-drop. "Uh...no. Not here." An awkward silence drug on for a millennia. Or a few seconds. "So, Applejack...what brings you to Manehattan?"
"Family business," she answered. "Ah have an aunt and uncle living in the fi-nan-see-al district. Mah uncle Orange who was married inta the family had a big business brother who passed away, may he rest in peace. Ah came to represent the Apple branch a'cause Ah didn't want Granny makin the trip." A look of confusion spread over her face. "All that happened after all that was some sneaky attempts at foiling mah plans to leave." She shook her head. "It was alright for a while, I could tolerate it. Uncle Orange lost someone near an' dear an' wanted somepony tah be the same. But dainty parties an tiny meals an doin up mah hair in a silly ol' bouffant ain't for me."
I blinked in sympathy though I wasn't sure she was very broken up over it. "I'm sorry for your loss, Applejack." She nodded her thanks and I smiled and continued. "I do agree about the parties and finery part. I hate dressing up. One of the worst things ever!"
AJ chuckled. "Yer wearin clothes right now."
I looked down at my hoodie with burning cheeks. Do ponies really blush so much? Since when did a hoodie count as dressing up? "Oh. Well, I meant dresses. I hate dresses."
"Well, don't we all, sugarcube?" She grinned at me. The pictures on the screen didn't quite capture how characteristic her smile is. She has a dimple in her left cheek and her lip curls out a bit on the same side. The appearance was somewhat crooked but heartfelt. It was downright adorable, honestly.
I didn't want to sound like a creeper by pointing out how Rarity iadored/i dresses, but somehow the realization came too late. "What about Rarity?" I'm pretty sure part of me died at the look on AJ's face.
"Now how do you know abaht Rarity?" She didn't seem suspicious. Just confused. Or weirded out. Maybe ecstatically surprised. I'm still not that great at reading the facial expressions of a pony.
Due to my enviable superpower I like to call 'bullshitting my way through any test and passing,' I managed to come up with a suitable answer. "She's quite the talk in Canterlot on-and-off," I said as I slapped on a grin. "As fabulous as ponies make her designs seem, I have about ten bits to my name and no desire." Tis true.
Applejack looked a bit confused. "What were y'all doin in Canterlot?"
My façade did not slip. The mask, child. "That's where I'm originally from up until adulthood."
"Then why were you in Manehattan?
I'm lying to a lie detector, I thought. "I was going to school in Manehattan. In the theatre district." Now, that's not necessarily untrue. I was in school as a music and arts major with chemistry and engineering as a minor. Ya. The contrast. Sometimes it burns.
Applejack didn't seem very satisfied. "And how did y'all know we were friends?" Oh, shoot.
And they said I wouldn't go far by BSing everything. "Remember...the garden party last year?"
Applejack blinked and scootched down in her seat some. "Oh, yeah."
I nodded. "I was with my parents for a vacation. Heard all about it." I smiled a bit devilishly. "Sounded great. You were the talk of the town. I didn't even know that Canterlot had garden parties...never did pay attention."
Applejack pulled at her hat. "So just about e'rypony heard, ah?"
I shrugged. "Sure. Wasn't too bad, though. You kind of did save the world. ...twice."
A pause.
"And you're immortalized in stain glass...
"Twice."
I considered the ice just about broken at that point. For whatever reason I was here, I was building an awesome story around myself. I talked around any personal questions for the next hours as AJ and I conversed. That is, until she asked something I hadn't thought of.
"Shoot, Ah never did ask you. Hopin' ya don't think me ignorant, but Ah didn't seem to catch yer name." She smiled. How can I say no to that smile!?
When confronted, I'm as good at lying as the next person. Only a heck of a lot better. However, something like that is not something I can BS. It's a serious thing. My name. Dammit, what's my name!? AJ was staring expectantly, becoming a little uncomfortable. What did I name my OC? That was four, five, six years ago! C'mon, girl, think!
"Azure Spark."
New item acquired:_
Name._
Azure Spark._
Azure doesn't even look like a word if you say it enough._
AzureAzureAzureAzureAzureAzu re._
Recommended action:_
Proceed with former thought process._
Surprisingly, my voice did not shake and I remembered to wipe the wide eyes away and finish with a crooked smile.
AJ nodded. "That's a right fitting name."
"What do ya mean by that?"
She gestured to my...ness. "Well, yer wearin blue and yer coat really is blue. It looked like white at first but it's lookin more blue the longer Ah stare."
I looked down at my foreleg and compared it to the sweatshirt as she went on. Huh. I really was just a ridiculously light blue. "As for the Spark half, you sure are a live wire. Once we got to knowin each other better, Ah'd say y'all're fixin to burst with energy."
"That's me," I chuckled and flashed a smile. "Sparky."
A/N: Again, for the four of you that read this, I am very sorry for the delay. Next time, no excuses! I shall upload when I promise c: That promise means either once or twice a week landing on either Saturday or a random day ending in y. Thanks again for getting this far!
Word Count: 2184
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (c) Hasbro
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