Dawn Star: Manehatten Mare

I opened my eyes to the sun whilst it was barely beginning to rise. It was about four or five in the morning. Too early for normal ponies to wake up at. I groaned in frustration. Why did I have to wake up so early. I was tempted to go back to sleep but I had stuff to do. Not that half of it was going to get done, but hey. I might as well try to get stuff done. The major two was food shopping, and seeing my friend and co-worker, Stone Force. Him and I went back years, since pre-pre school. We have known each other all our lives. And even work on the same team in the lab, which is why I want to see him before work. To tell him of our promotion. No doubt word had already spread around the labs like wild fire. Knowing Heart Seeker he would have been going to everypony's house in the dead of night and woke everypony to tell them. The pony meant well, but he wasn't the best at social norms. I stood up, practically falling out of bed only to get up and curse at it for a while. I walked over to the mirror, my hair was messy anyway, but all of one side was flat where I had slept. It had obviously been a silent night as I hadn't been disturbed by anything that made me move. Which was shocking due to where I lived, but also rather worrying, as now I needed a shower to sort my hair out.

I decided for a bath eventually.

Standing over the tub waiting for the water to fill up I smiled slightly. I wasn't sure why, maybe because I loved baths, maybe due to the fact my team were now the Directors of Offensive spells. Maybe I was just eager to smile. The smile quickly dropped when I let out a yawn and remembered how tired I still was.

The bath was now full, bubbles floated from the steamy water and a small rubber duck peacefully floated on the waves of the water. A few drops of water still leaked from the tap. I looked at the stillness of the water and slowly got in.

At first the heat of the water was enough to make me alter my plan, but I kept with it knowing the water would wake me up a bit more. A bit.

I finally managed to get one foreleg in before just squeaking a little and basically diving into the bath, the hot water hurt a little at first, then became more relaxing and I lent back into the tub with a groan of delight. Nearly submerging my head.

I felt something poking against my bum, at first I panicked and thought something was in here with me, until I noticed my duck was missing and put a hoof under water to save it. As i had thought. I had sat on my duck. I pushed it a little between my bum and between my legs, letting it float up to the top with a small splash. It wobbled a bit and I was worried I would have to use my magic to stand it up right in the water, but eventually it steadied and began to move around the bath with the current of the water. I dunked my head under to get my hair wet, the long knots of hair instantly became long and straight, only to slowly begin to curl up as soon as I left my underwater domain. I looked to the duck with was slowly disappearing into the bubble layer at the edge and end of my bath. I scooped some bubbles up and rubbed a hoof of bubbles through my hair. Some water droplets dripping down my forehead. I looked up to my nose where a small drop of water was, as I looked a scope of bubble dropped onto my nose and I sneezed. The sneeze was rather squeaky and to anypony else's mind, that would have been adorable. I washed my hair and body with soap and staying relaxing in the bath for a good half hour. Only to have forgotten a towel. My tail and mane were wet thus had draped down my neck and back legs. I made sure to look around and call out in case anypony was round, when I saw the coast was clear, I quickly dashed out of the bathroom and grabbed two towels. One I wrapped around my body, and the other round my mane. I then walked over to the window. There were ponies everywhere walking around. The time is what now? Seven? Half seven in the morning and everypony is up and out wondering the streets of Manehatten going to work. I could see ponies sitting on the streets, looking dirty and ill, the homeless were always sad and I wished I could do something for them, but a few bits to random ones doesn't seem to help. No one mare, or stallion, can change the world. Well maybe if you are somepony like Celestia. Or Luna, Cadence, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Ponies like those. Alicorn royalty. No unicorn mage could change the world. Not anymore. I had been told since birth the world didn't need another mage like Greybeard, or whatever his name was. I hadn't learnt about him since I could barely talk. So didn't really follow his studies much.

I followed my fathers, and mothers. They had both been pretty good mages back in the day, both becoming team leaders and their teams quickly becoming Directors of some spell type. My mother was illusive, magical trickery, I never really saw it as magic, rather cheap tricks to get some bits of ponies, but I suppose if it was what she wanted to follow, then sure why not. Then my father got his team focused on defensive shield spells. He didn't invent anything overly exciting, but certainly saved some ponies lives. I am not sure where I got my love for offensive spells from, both my parents following basically defensive kinds. Maybe it was something from generations ago, like my great-great-great somepony or another followed it. But I hadn't asked, I knew I was good at it, so I followed offensive.

I began to brush my mane with a hairbrush, levitating it with my red coloured magic and running my hoof through my hair, feeling it becoming softer and letting the water drip down my arm. I looked to the four droplets of water and put the hairbrush to one side. I began to then levitate the water from my arm, the four drops appearing in front of my eyes. I pushed them forward with magic and as they shot forward they turned to ice and sliced into the wood of my apartment wall. Before turning back to water when I released my magic. Four pin sized holes now occupied my wall. I smiled, then began to brush again.

Once I had finished that I walked to the door and out onto the lobby. First I had to go see Stone Force and tell him of the news. I walked out onto the stairwell, just as my neighbor, a nice old mare named Frost Cone, walked out. Her wrinkled cutie mark was that of an ice cream cone as she was superb at homemade ice cream making. It was honestly to die for.

"Hello deary." Frost greeted.

"Hello Ms. Cone." I replied, in a natural schoolmate manner.

"Now Dawn Star. I have told you many a time to call me Frost, never Ms. Or Mrs. I am Frost Cone deary. You aren't in school anymore."

"Sorry Frost. It is too early to think."

"Well whatever are you doing up at such a time. You don't have work until eleven." It was sweet she knew my working hours, really. Frost Cone had lived next door to me for years, she was already here when I moved in. That was when her husband, Streamline Cone, had still been alive and her grandchildren had been in Manehatten, they had moved, far away sadly about a year after Streamline's death. It wasn't a bad idea, Manehatten is a horrible place to live and grief doesn't help. It is what the city feeds on. I looked to Frost's cold, sad, tired eyes and smiled.

"Yeah, well my team just got a promotion so I have to spread the news to everypony. I will see you later Frost. I really must be going." I replied.

"Oh but deary!" Frost called as I reached the first step. I naturally paused.

"You are losing weight come here child." Frost added, I turned, the old mare had a bag in her hooves.

"Frost? I can't accept this." I said, staring at the old mares bag.

"Well I won't be around forever and my children and grandchildren have moved far away, my dear husband is gone. So you are all I have left. The least I can do is give you a few bits so you can go feed yourself properly."

"No, really Frost. I can't take your money." I said, the old mare was having none of it and kept the bag in my face. I wouldn't win this, I never do. But everytime I felt bad for taking money I don't really need. Eventually however, as always. I gave up on fighting the old mare and accepted the money. Thanking her and trotting away. Frost wishing me luck for the day and hoping I come back with more bits to survive with. I trotted down the stairwell smiling to myself as I left to speak to Stone Force. I still wasn't completely dry yet but hopefully it was a warm day outside so I could warm up.

It wasn't. The temperature had dropped nearly five degrees from my room to the apartment lobby. That didn't seem a lot but with a wet mane and a wet tail that I really need to grow longer, it wasn't the best of days. I stepped out onto the street and instantly lost myself, there were hundreds of ponies walking around out on the street as per normal, chatting away to friends and co-workers. Pushing through the crowd whilst being late for a meeting. It wasn't so bad, only two-thirds of Manehatten's population wasn't Pegasi, so the few that were here were just flying above the crowd. How I wished I could fly sometimes. But I wasn't that good a mage to conjure up wings, nor have the patience or time to learn such a craft. Princess Sparkle knew near on any school of spell, well. She apparently had limited knowledge of offensive spells and a few other attack and defensive spells. But she had mastered things like teleportation rather quickly. Or again, so I have been told.

I chose which direction I wanted to go in, which luckily, was where a good deal of the crowd wanted to go as well, and I stepped out into the streets, instantly being shoved and pushed in all directions. I cast the only illusive spell I knew, a small blue pathway to where I most wanted to go, this helped me figure out where to go when I was being pushing in all sorts of directions by ponies much bigger than me. To be fair on the city, not everywhere was this overpopulated, in truth it was only this part of the city. Nearer to the center no ponies really lived, so only shoppers and tourists went there. The north, west and south side were practically deserted most days, void of any ponies. It was mainly the old part of town, the parts where a pony wouldn't want to be late at night. So a good three-quarters of the city were basically empty of life most of the time, and it was a big city. One of the biggest in Equestria. The only bigger one being Canterlot. The castle city didn't look big, but most ponies missed the fact that the castle only controlled one corner of the city, plus there are cloud homes above the city for Pegasi, an underground area for the, sadly poorer ponies and small nameless towns filled the mountain side next to Canterlot, all the way down to Ponyville and Ponyton.

Eventually I made my way north and found myself at Force's apartment the door was unlocked as normal. The main door to most apartment blocks were locked between ten and six. Thus only ponies with keys or very advanced door spells. Again I say most since some of the poorer ones have little or no security. But most apartments have magical wards so no pony can teleport themselves into buildings. A few spells had decayed though as no pony came to repair them. Luckily I knew that, thanks to Force. So was updating the protection spells on my apartment daily. I stepped into the lobby and toward the stairwell. A pony ran past, I didn't think much about it but I swear I saw his eyes turn from blue to a bright green for a second. I continued on walked toward Force's room. When I got there however his door was already open.

"Stone? It's me, Dawn, I will just sit down since the door is open okay?" I asked into his room, no answer. As I neared the door I noticed something. It hadn't been opened lightly, it was properly broken into. The hinges were broken and the door had green goo and burn marks all over it. The apartment was a state, burns and goo dotted everywhere. On the floor in a small pool of blood was the pony I knew as Stone Force. But was now just a mutilated corpse of mush, the only think that made me know it was him, was the cut off head sitting on the table with a piece of paper on the table next to it. I threw up.