Manehatten Turns Tragic [Prologue]
It's quiet here, not a pony in sight. I was supposed to be here with family, but I lost them in the snow tonight. It's getting cold and I'm really tired, I don't know where I am. I'm feeling a little light headed and... am I sweating?
I stop to take a quick breather and view my surroundings. The snow-covered lamps that dot the streets of Manehatten is a contrast to what I'm use to seeing in Ponyville. These orange colored lights guide me to even more places I don't know. I've only been in the city a couple of times when I was younger, but I never came here myself, especially for today's family festival my parents and I were supposed to visit. However, we were having trouble finding their house, so my father asked for directions. Unfortunately, as he was doing this, someone took my mom's rock-filled purse and decided that it was a great idea to run with it. My mom screamed while my dad was stunned, so I went off after the pony, hoping to catch up to him with my speed I gained from practicing with Rainbow Dash.
Now I'm trying to find my way through this storm, walking in the cold slush. I can't feel my hooves, are they even there?
I lift up my forehooves just to check. They definitely are...
As I begin to walk, a sudden intense sting visits my being. I immediately stop on the wet, packed surface, the white snow keeping me in place. I grimace and whimper in pain, my muzzle feels like a bunch of needles are pinching me all at once. It reminds me of that time when Sweetie Belle's sister was trying to sew her first sweater. Instead, she almost sewed her mane to it. What if she did that to me? A nice, Scootaloo branded sweater? I don't want to be a sweater! I'm supposed to be a high-stakes flyer, not a wearable fashion statement!
Phew, if I continue talking like this, I might get my cutie mark in 'Saying Large Words', or even worse: Rainbow Dash might not like me anymore for being... an egghead!
I shiver as a wind gust brushes up against my back, tickling all the hairs on me as it rushes on by. If I continue walking in this cold snow, I'll turn into a popsicle! Not the tasty kind either!
Quickly springing into a gallop, I attempt to avoid the cold snap by gaining some speed. The quicker I go, the better chance of finding an open place to let me, hopefully, stay and warm myself up for the night. I look around, desperately searching for an open business on Hearth's Warming night. To my dismay, all of them seemed to be closed. To my right are the tall and wide business buildings, all dark inside. To my left are the same gloomy-looking homes, some even shut all of their blinders. I close my eyes and shiver, the faint breeze still vicious and scary, leaving me afraid to move. The cold snap embraces my body, chilling me to the point of being numb. I can't think, time is ticking, and I'm still standing here, bracing the cold's tight hold on me. Luckily I spot an alleyway that is not filled with random containers or dogs and cats fighting over scrap. I scurry into it, dodging that horrible breeze. This area is dark, but it shelters me momentarily from the cold.
I so solemnly swear, if I find a box and hide in it, I will bet anypony bits that somepony will think I'm an orphan or homeless. This isn't the Scootaloo way, even if I'm a...
...lost foal in Manehatten!
Gulping loudly, I stand still and scan the area. Garbage bags are thrown together in another one of those fancy trash containers to my right, while a large pile of cardboard boxes of various sizes are to my left. The walls are high, and the boxes and garbage went down for a long while, scattered in disarray. I groan and quickly shuffle over to the pile of boxes.
Looks like I'll be doing what I said I don't want to do.
After a few minutes of carefully shuffling through box after box that did not look cozy and smelled like the pigs at Sweet Apple Acres on a bad day, I grab a large, cozy-looking box and hop inside, hoping the cold would stop making me shiver. It doesn't make me stop, but it definitely helps with stopping the intensity of the cold. For now, this is the place to be. Just one step closer to surviving this harsh winter weather.
As I am about to drift off, I hear a loud noise that follows an even louder scream.
"Get out of here ya little runt!"
The faint smell of smoke enters my nostrils. I shift a bit in my box, trying to keep as quiet as possible. My ears turn to catch a few whimpers from behind me.
"Dad, I didn't do it! Silver just..." a young, masculine voice anxiously says, his hoofsteps clip-clopping softly against the pavement.
I hear something land right beside my box.
"I don't care! Your behavior is getting out of hoof ya stinkin' no good featherbrain!" the more angered voice shouts, stomping on a surface behind me.
Featherbrain!
The word echoes in my ears, ringing them loud and clear. Something else hits my box, almost landing inside it. The wet feeling of the liquid from the object mats my fur, making me shiver twice as much as before.
"I'm not a featherbrain!" he yells. "You know my grades, I'm top of the class!"
A few hoofsteps stomp down what seems to sound like some steps.
"There's book smarts and then there's common sense," what I'm assuming to be the father says, his old, gravely voice trailing away in the cold. "You got plenty of one, but nothin' of the other!"
"Then what do I have, father?" the masculine voice asks in a furious shout. The vicious breeze rushes past me, letting a very brief pause reign before he continues, "What do I have?"
The growl from above makes me shiver more than the cold. "Your lack of sense boy is straight out the winda'! Instead of diving your head straight into all them books, maybe you should go outside and get laid!"
The son, who I definitely feel sorry for now, screams the loudest thing I ever could hear. "I don't care what you think! Besides, you should look in mirror! You're always drunk and don't supply anything to the rest of the family! Shouldn't that make you lower than me on the scale?!"
The stomping up the stairs definitely isn't a good sig—
The sounds of a door slamming hard against the building rattles my ears. I thought whoever just slammed that broke the door, but I guess not as the one left outside bangs on it repeatedly. "Let me in, son!"
"No! You can stay outside for all I care, you're not welcome in this house anymore!"
Angered grunts sound off behind me, before the father stomps down the stairs. I hear him coming closer, before my eyes widen at what he does. The stallion kicks the boxes, sending some high and far. The debris from above hits me square in my chest, making me squeal in pain. I whimper as the hoofsteps of the stallion draws near. My heart is hammering in my chest, my nose is smelling the guys stench—which smells worse than most by the way, and I'm shaking so much that I can't stop doing it.
"Get out of the box ya filthy animal!" the stallion shouts, clearly missing my box by a mile as he hits a box farther away from mine.
I stay still and hide my face as I hear him grunt in frustration. In seconds, I begin to feel light, and an aura of blue appearing right in front of my eyes. Apparently this father is a unicorn as well.
If I get thrown out onto the street, this'll be the end of me.
My thoughts come true as I am flung from my only shelter and hit the ground hard, the little snow there not doing anything but making me colder and adding more wetness to my fur. I hate hitting the ground especially when its snow; it makes me think of my failure to ever fly at night, particularly in the winter.
I dust myself off and look above to see a rough, tired stallion staring down at me through his half-lidded eyes. His large, bulky appearance startles me, quivering as I stand. He shakes his head.
"What're doin' in my boxes filly?" He looks at me from head to my legs. "Do ya know the time?"
I shiver where I stand, the cold still affecting me, including my speaking. "I-I, yes I do sir," I begin, pausing as another sting courses through me. "But I'm lost, and my family is—"
"Leaving you out to die?" he finishes, his glare making me shake even more. "I've heard all them stories little filly, I ain't that easy to sway."
He thinks I'm lying?
I open my mouth to speak, but nothing seems to come out. I'm losing ground, and I have no where to go. This stallion isn't going to let me stay, especially with him getting locked out by his own son.
"You got nothin' to say, eh?" he says, standing in front of me. He suddenly shoves me out of the alley. "Get off my property, freeloader!"
I slowly pick myself up, my entire body shaking while the parts of me that aren't numb burn intensely. I wish Rainbow Dash was here...
I look down the alley for a brief moment. The stallion must have left after that whole turn of events, the alley is empty now. I sigh and look up to the stars while I readjust my blue scarf. It's never going to end; this snow is going to continue falling down and all I'm doing is wishing for a miracle of some sort.
Of course, who couldn't with a sky like this. Even though it's snowing, the stars are still shining brightly due to the clouds being moved around by the weather team. I didn't know they had one, but according to Rainbow Dash, every city has one. It's a requirement or something, but I haven't gotten into that yet because of the... lack of flying.
Ugh, who am I kidding. I can't fly.
I shake my head as I continue my journey, slowly clip-clopping my way down towards the end of the street. The remaining road ahead was actually under construction, leading out to some sort of park outside of the city lights. I rush to it, hoping for a place to hide from the cold. Searching every nick and cranny of it, I find a nice spot that blocks the wind without much effort. It even shields me from above, thanks to it being a nice bridge. Apparently they added it because what I'm standing in is a bit... dangerous, at least that's what the sign said.
Danger: Do not drink the sewer water!
For some reason, this is a park or... did I even check if it was a park?
I sit quietly underneath what it really was: a small, yet long walkway the next part of town. No grass here, just concrete. Lots and lots of concrete. The sign out front tricked me with its phony wording. It said it was Golden Park, a place to stay, but I guess it meant a concrete hole. Oh well, better for me since I can stay here. I just can't drink any of the water. Not that I mind.
I curl up in a dry corner of the place and remove my scarf. Nothing is worse than hiding under something like this during the winter. Alone, lost, and thankfully not hungry; a state which could lead to something worse if I can't find some food later. However, I'm not worried about that now. There's more to worry about then that.
I look up at the sky, the stars twinkling at me. I smile before gasping as I spot one shooting by. The pain inside of me stops for a moment, a welcomed feeling that I hope to happen more often right now, but there's always something I'd want, something I'd need for me to be free. I want to do something that every other pegasus could do.
"I wish I could fly," I say quietly, shivering in the corner. I carefully wrap myself in my long, thick blue scarf, my tail poking out from underneath the thick fabric. I sigh and close my eyes. "But don't just hoof it to me."
As I begin to fall to sleep, I hear a little crackling noise.
What's that noise?
I snap my gaze to the sky to see the star that I wished upon now heading straight for me.
"Oh my..." I mutter as I stare at it before shaking out of my trance. "I gotta get out of here!"
I run to a full gallop, jumping and ducking under the random bars I had to be get over in order to get to that spot in the first place. I hop right out of there before the star hits, smashing the bridge into smithereens. My eyes widen as the bright star lost its yellow glow.
"Stars are shaped like that?" I ask quietly, the shape of it not what I thought it would be. Our teachers told us that a star has four points, one in each direction. North, East, South, and West is what I think they were, but directions became confusing when Miss Cheerilee started using in a way that makes me tilt my head. I can't stand it when she mixes them up and adds directions together, my brain isn't that quick. That's why those two...downright horrible bullies always call me a featherbrain. I-Oh, who am I kidding, they're the featherbrains, that is, if they had wings to begin with.
I hold off the little rant in me to stare at what used to be the bridge. The impact definitely destroyed part most of the small bridge. Luckily no pony was on it, or it might have been a worse situation. Having seen enough of the wreckage, I look at it oddly shaped fake star. It can't be a star, it was a white ball of metal, which is something that is not normal here in Equestria. Even though we've been starting to get more metal, Twilight, who I can't stand sometimes when she lectures about things that I can't really grab onto, says that the lack of the elements needed to make them are low in supply. I can't believe I even heard her say that, I'm usually watching Sweetie Belle look like an annoyed burned marshmallow when Twilight grills her about all the reasons why she should be paying more attention to where she casts spells, or staring at the Daring Do books that Rainbow Dash loves to read on Twilight's large, oak table. I'm so going to read those someday and then be... better than who I am now.
I begin to sigh but hold the rest of it in as the metal suddenly opens up, the ball splitting in two. Inside, I find something weird, something that makes me pedal away for a second. I...
"Whoa, what a landing!" the thing says rather excitingly as it hops out of the metal ball. It is taller than me, has a long blonde mane, and doesn't have any fur. It begins to look around. "I wonder what field I landed—"
It's staring at me.
I'm staring at it.
What do I do?!
All that numbness leaves me for a moment, the standstill being more frightening than anything in my life. Something new, something unexpected, I—
"Is that a horse!?"
"What did you call me?" I growl at her, my wings snapping out in full.
The whatever-it-is raises its hooves up. "I'm not going to harm you talking filly, I'm just uh," the tall thing starts, its gaze moving away from me to the area where we're standing at while it lowers its hooves to its sides. "Where am I?"
"Manehatten," I reply dryly, the fear of the thing in front of me leaving me. If it is telling me the truth, then I gotta believe it because I'm in a horrible physical state. There's no way I can fight right now with this severe stinging still affecting me. "Primarily near the o-outskirts."
I can tell the thing is shivering too, the thing's glistening white teeth chatters loudly. The thing wraps her covered forelegs around itself. The thing has some wacky stuff on including some flight goggles, some mittens, and a nice, long, puffy brown jacket. "You cold?" I ask.
It nods. "Yeah, I didn't suspect it to be s-so cold. All I wished was some more time to fly."
I raise an eyebrow. "Hold on, you wished to fly?"
It nods again. "You ever heard of airplanes?"
"Airplanes?"
It shakes its head and puts its hoof to its side. "Didn't think so, but I can see you have some nice wings."
A sting of a different kind enters me. "I can't use'm to fly though."
It comes closer to me. "Why?"
I mentally backpedal. "It's nothing, really! U-um..." I say, my mind rattling off words. "W-What's your name?"
"Kyla Rider," it says proudly with a bright smile. It puts a hoof out. "You?"
I smirk and bump hooves with it. "Scootaloo." This thing is my type of... "Say, what are you?"
It facehooves. "Oh, I'm a human, a female one at that."
"Human?" I say, hoping I pronounced it right.
"Yeah," she says, waving her hooves around. "Aren't there any around here?"
I look down and shake my head. "No."
Kyla sighs. "Well, we gotta find a place to stay, right?"
I groan. "Yeah, and the original bridge that I was using to hide under is gone."
Kyla looks down. "Sorry about that, it was clear when I was attempting to land," she begins, before looking at the city behind us. "What about the city?"
"Nopony is open..." I say with a slight frown. "I already checked..."
"Drat," she says, snapping her tiny hoof... wait those aren't hooves! "Look, we can't give up on it. There's nothing else around here is there?"
I shake my head in response. "There's nothing around here for miles..."
She smiles for some odd reason. "Then let's go walk around there some more. With the two of us, maybe we'll find some place. A new place to explore!" She squeals for a moment before coming closer to me and wrapping her left foreleg around my neck. "Better walk close together! We need to share some body heat in order to stay warm."
I blush. "Uh-m, okay..."
So we walk together into town once again, hoping to find a warm place to stay.
I hope she's right, otherwise we're so screwed.
