Blue eyes blinked open before shutting quickly, the sun's last golden rays aimed at them. Even as his eyes were closed, he felt the faint moving of his body going forward, with strangely familiar music playing on his ear. Taking off his earphone, he heard the sound of rattling as the passenger car he was in moves along the tracks.
A voice on the intercom speaks up, "We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the delay, and the next stop is..." the voice faded in the background as he looked out the window towards the city in the horizon growing closer.
He dully stared out the window in front of him and sighs. "Another year, another school..." He thought
He's starting to lose count of the amount of schools he attended. In the past years, he had to move from place to place because of his parents' work. They didn't even thought that he should go along with them and instead leave him with an aunt he barely knew.
He wondered as he looked onward towards his destination what he would find. Maybe find a new friend or maybe meet someone like himself. Probably not. He shouldn't even try. "I mean, who would even let me look at their wrists for giggles?"
We have arrived at the Canterlot terminal." The voice announced over the train's intercom. "Passengers headed for Canterlot, kindly step off as our next stop will be at... "
"That's my cue."
~;~
He stepped off, carrying his bags and inhaled his first breath of fresh air. It was different, he noted. The atmosphere around the station was calming.
"Over here!" The boy heard. Looking to his left, he saw a middle-aged woman waving her arm towards him, probably in her mid-30s, with black hair with a slighty green tinge to it, if one would squint closely, wearing a grey coat above a dark-green shirt and skirt that went a bit below the knees. The boy approached her.
"Welcome to Canterlot, Casper. My name's Chrystina Papillon, with a 'y' on the first part mind you, and I'll be taking care of you for the rest of the year." She said. The boy remained silent as she continued "I am also your mother's little sister."
"It's nice to meet you." the boy said, holding out his hand.
"Don't be so formal." She said, chuckling. "You probably don't remember, but I was the one changing your diaper when you were a baby." The boy slowly took a small step back as a response. Chrystina laughed.
"I'm teasing. You shouldn't take everything so seriously."
"Hrgn..." Casper muttered as he rolled his eyes.
"Now come on. My car's over there." She and Casper walked to the car and drove to Chrystina's house.
~;~
The drive to his new home was silent, with him leaning on the window to his right and Chrystina was driving. It was dusk by the time they reached her home.
It was a small three story house painted a light blue with wisps of the darker color, the bottom floor serving as the small restaurant, with large windows looking in on the business, the name "The Nightly Owl" written across them. Chrystina fished out the keys from her purse and unlocked the door, revealing the restaurant divided into a lower and higher section.
The lower section of the restaurant was filled with tables and just enough leg room for two people to pass each other without giving way while the higher section were more spacious, probably because of the small bar section it had for the drinkers.
"It may not look like much outside but the building's bigger on the inside." She beamed as she lead Casper to the door behind the counter of the higher section. "Now come on. I'll show you your room." Casper looked at the restaurant one last time before climbing up the stairs towards the second floor.
~;~
"So, here it is." Chrystina said as she stood in front of the door. "Room 205. Pretty easy to remember, since it's at the end of the hall."
"...Thanks..." Casper mumbled.
"Well, best that I leave you to your devices. See you in the morning." Chrystina said as she left. Casper looked at his room and entered, revealing a blue bed in the corner with a small chest beside the bed's headboard. Above the chest was a calendar with the picture of some meadow in another country and a small, empty picture frame. Beside the bed was a desk with two shelves right above it. There was a small sink and fridge near the door and two windows adjacent to the bed's footboard.
Casper placed his bags on the desk and immediately laid himself on the bed, taking off his shoes and stared at the ceiling.
Casper's life was one of solitude. Both of his parent were always abroad, leaving him alone. We'll be back by Christmas, they say. We'll be home for your birthday, they said. But they never did.
Feeling his eyes drooping, he closed his eyes and let sleep fall over him and began to dream...
~;~
Somewhere, everything was quiet. The wind was still and everyone was asleep. Suddenly, the wind began to pick up as a pillar under a statue of a horse began to glow. Out of one of its sides came a teenage girl with with crimson hair and yellow locks out of it. She landed on the concrete, but she stood up quickly. She then noticed her body, looked at her hands and wiggled it for a while. She slowly stood up, and looked at the building in front of her.
"Well, this is an interesting development." She said as she walked towards the building. She noticed its glass doors and raised her hand, expecting something.
"What the-" She tried once again, yielding the same results. "No magic. I guess that's a risk I have to take." She looked for any opening that she could fit in, until she found one; a window just above a garbage dumpster. She slowly climbed it, getting used to her body, and entered, revealing several containers filled to the brim with all kinds of balls for sports. She tried to look for anything that she could use for the night and found a small mattress and a small banner.
"Be grateful you found something to sleep on, Sunset." She thought to herself as she shook of the dust collected on the mattress and lied down, taking off her boots.
"Looking forward to tomorrow." She said as she covered her stomach with the banner and fell asleep, dreaming of being a princess in another dimension...
