There is a saying common throughout Equestria: "With Celestia ponies rise to greet the day, and with Celestia they fall asleep." It means that ponies begin their day when Celestia raises the sun at dawn, and end their day when Celestia lowers the sun at dusk. And for most ponies, that saying holds true, but only for most ponies. In the world of finance, there is a saying that supersedes this one. "Commerce never sleeps." This is no more true than Equestria's financial heart, Manehattan.
Manehattan is, next to Canterlot and Cloudsdale, the single most important city in importance for keeping the Principality of Equestria functioning. While Canterlot hosts the Equestrian government and Cloudsdale its weather production, Manehattan hosts the country's largest banks and, above all, the Equestrian National Stock Exchange. At the Stock Exchange, tens of thousands of bits trade hooves every single day of every moon. What happens within these hallowed halls of finance affects everywhere from Las Pegasus to Trottingham and beyond.
It was here in those hallowed halls of finance that one of the most powerful mares in Equestria plied her trade.
Now, however, that same mare plied the pavement in a rush. In the dim grey pre-dawn under the ever present gaze of the alleged Mare in the Moon, she galloped dodging ponies left and right in an orange blur. Her hooves pounded a steady rhythmic beat against the concrete. Ponies jumped out of her way as she dashed around corners, many barely getting a glimpse at the stacks of bits that adorned the mare’s flank and the tail like freshly spun gold flowing freely behind her. The mare yelled as she skidded around a corner narrowly avoiding careening into a lamppost. “Outta the way, everypony!”
Applejack was in a hurry. The opening bell of the Equestrian Stock Exchange rang in twenty minutes and she was still ten blocks away. Applejack sped up her pace.
The next intersection came abruptly as Applejack swerved around a carrot dog cart. She saw a mass of fur dart out in front of her and yelped. A young colt carrying a stack of newspapers on his back had walked into her path. She was heading straight for him.
Ponies all around them shouted for the colt to get out of the way, but there was no time. Applejack had too much momentum. She looked at the colt and down at her forehooves in an instant. It was a small hurdle. She could make it. Applejack shifted her weight onto her back hooves. The shouts of the ponies became a low drone as time slowed. She steeled herself and locked her back legs. Propelling herself with her back hooves, Applejack sailed deftly over the young colt and landed on the other side of him, having cleared both the colt and his pile of papers.
She turned back toward the colt. “Watch where you’re goin’ next time!” She caught herself faintly dropping consonants and cursed inwardly. The drawl of her childhood was something she usually only let slip in the most prepared of situations. Despite her position, most ponies still saw her as a mare from Ponyville first and foremost. Maintaining the posh accent drilled into her by her aunt and uncle was necessary to maintain her Manehattan social standing.
“Sorry miss,” the colt said weakly, splayed on the ground. He still managed to give her the courtesy of tipping his cap as Applejack nodded and ran off across the intersection.
Ten minutes later, Applejack arrived at the grand steps leading into the Equestrian Stock Exchange building. The old building was dwarfed by the newer surrounding skyscrapers, but its grand pillars still maintained an imposing facade to the ponies walking past or through its entrance. Applejack stole a glance at the visage of Integra on the great tympanum held up by those marble pillars. The alicornic symbol of integrity stood central, uniting and bringing together images of earth ponies harvesting grain, pegasi crafting snowflakes, and a unicorn reading a book. She steeled her gaze at the symbol of trade and commerce which unified agriculture, industry, and education, and slowed to a properly dignified canter. Integra seemed to look down upon her skeptically, as if judging her intent even after all these years passing under the sculpture’s gaze. Applejack took a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart, and walked into the Stock Exchange.
The inside of the exchange was just as manic and bustling as the city outside despite the hour. Ponies wearing saddlebags filled with papers galloped every which way around the exchange floor, running the latest information and memos to and from brokers in preparation for the opening trades, fetching rolls of paper for the ticker tape machines, or trying to steal a listen into another pony’s conversation for the latest business gossip. Applejack glanced at the floor. It had been so long since she properly had a chance to see it. The din gave her a rush she had not felt since her first time coming here as a filly. She stopped before entering. It was long past her days as a floor trader, and Applejack had risen far beyond that. She instead wound around the side of the main hall and up the stairs. Memories fighting and hollering among the day traders and brokers flooded her mind. She fought so hard to build her wealth from what the Oranges had left her. Today though, she was not there to grapple with the lowly traders. No, Applejack was there for a higher purpose for suited to her present station. Applejack reminded herself of how far she had come from her humble beginnings on a Ponyville apple farm as she ascended the stairs to the balcony overlooking the main hall of the Exchange.
Applejack rounded the corner in a canter. Her hoofsteps on the shining black marble floor echoed in the quieter recesses of the balcony. At the sound, two stallions and a mare stopped their conversation and turned toward her. “There you are!” The taller stallion, with a black waistcoat and top hat acting as a frame that made his azure face stand out even more, glared at Applejack over his pince nez and trotted over to her. “For somepony who’s played the market like you have, you’re certainly arrive with not a moment to spare. You of all ponies should know the punctuality of opening the Stock Exchange.”
Applejack bowed her head in deference. “I do apologize Mayor, but I had to take care of an urgent matter that simply could not wait.” Applejack lifted her head again. She stared Mayor Halfmoon in his eyes, as brilliant a yellow as her own were green. Mayor Halfmoon raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to give a scolding remark, but Applejack cut him off. “Now, as you say, punctuality is key. So it’s best we not delay any further with idle conversation, would you not agree Mayor?”
“Hmph. Yes. Well then.” Halfmoon turned and led Applejack to the balcony where they stopped beside a great bell. The other stallion and mare, both unicorns, joined them and stood on either side of Applejack and the Mayor.
The chatter of the crowd of trader ponies on the floor below them died down with a hush as the four ponies appeared on the balcony. The Mayor stamped a hoof on the marble to bring a final silence to the crowd below. When it was quiet to his satisfaction, Halfmoon spoke.
“My fellow ponies! I am proud to execute my duty this fine Manehattan morning of bestowing upon a remarkable pony the honor of opening today’s Exchange. Joined by my beautiful wife of course,” Halfmoon nodded toward the unicorn mare standing at his left, “and the President of the Equestrian Stock Exchange, Pierpont,” the yellow-green unicorn stallion on Applejack’s right waved to the crowd and grinned, “I am pleased to present the honor of opening the Exchange today to a mare who has risen to the heights of Manehattanite and Equestrian finance. A mare who, from humble beginnings in Ponyville, fought her way up from rags to riches to achieve all the success she has reached today. I am honored to stand aside a great self-made mare, Miss Applejack, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Apple Manehattan Bank. Under Applejack’s steady reins, the Apple Bank has launched itself across Equestria and last month earned its status as the largest bank in Equestria. Even surpassing your own Equine National, eh Pierpont?” Halfmoon gave the unicorn next to Applejack a side glance and a friendly smirk. Pierpont returned it with a silent chuckle and a firm nod, shifting his gaze briefly from the crowd to Applejack. Applejack beamed. Mayor Halfmoon turned back to the crowd of traders on the floor. “And now, without further ado, Applejack, would you do the honors?”
“Why certainly, Mayor. During my earliest days in the world of finance, I was like all of you.” Applejack addressed the ponies on the floor. “Stepping into the Exchange again brought me back to those days. I remember all too well that skip of your heart you get from the first ring of this bell. Let me say that it is a great honor to stand before you today ringing it myself. It is proof that with hard work, sweat, and determination, anypony can rise to the top. Perhaps one day, one of you out there will stand here as well.”
Applejack took the heavy rope dangling from the bell’s frame in her forehooves. She took a deep breath and pulled with all her strength. The bell above them creaked and swung, the clapper struck the bronze, and the great resonant noise echoed throughout the hall.
The ponies on the trading floor erupted in cheers and the stomping of hooves. Within seconds, the cheers and hoof stomps seamlessly transitioned into the shouts of buying and selling stocks on the floor and the thrum of over a hundred ponies galloping around the trading floor.
Applejack’s heart quickened as the bell’s toll reverberated through her body. The memories of being on the floor came flooding back again, that rush of energy that propelled her onward for years. Onward and upward. Applejack smiled as she surveyed the chaos of the floor for a moment. She shivered with excitement.
“It feels good to be back here, even if I’m not on the floor,” Applejack commented as she joined Pierpont and Mayor Halfmoon in a side room.
“It does, doesn’t it,” Pierpont nodded. “Congratulations, I must say, on your success, Applejack.” Pierpont raised a glass of wine in Applejack’s direction as she strode toward him.
“Your thanks is much appreciated, Mister Pierpont,” Applejack replied cordially. “It is nice to know that, though we may be rivals in the world out there, we can remain civil with each other in the company of our esteemed Mayor.”
Applejack, Pierpont, and Mayor Halfmoon talked for the next half hour. Getting such a private audience with the Mayor of Manehattan was no easy feat for either of them, and despite their banks being competitors, there were matters that they personally did agree on. Applejack and Pierpont used that precious moment to lobby the Mayor on such matters as reduced taxes or corporate headquarters and looser banking restrictions in the city.
Finally they adjourned as natural light began streaming in through the narrow vaulted windows. Mayor Halfmoon was scheduled for another engagement opening a park uptown in the Broncs later that morning. Pierpont had to attend to his duties as President of the Exchange and broke off to seclude himself in his Exchange office. Applejack left for the stairs, she glanced back at Pierpont. His cutie mark, two shining golden bits, stood out on his flank from under the twin tails of his suit. She wondered how he managed running both the Equine National Bank and the Manehattan Stock Exchange. Somehow he did, and he managed both remarkably well at that. Applejack walked down the steps of the Exchange back onto the busy Manehattan streets just as Celestia was raising the sun over the horizon.
****
Later that day, after all her official banking work was done, Applejack finally returned home. She looked forward to coming home every day. Her penthouse apartment had a gorgeous view of Manehattan. The large windows permitted not only the enjoyment of that view but had the added benefit of allowing an abundance of natural sunlight into her apartment. Sunlight was an amenity not often afforded to many of the poorer ponies living on the lower floors of Manehattan’s apartments, and having been reared in Ponyville, the ability to take in Celestia’s greatest gift to Equestria was a luxury she had dreamed of regaining every day since arriving in Manehattan.
Applejack opened the front door and stepped inside. She closed the door and let out a long deep breath. That sweet moment of calm was very brief. As she took off the pearl necklace that she had worn all day, placing it in the drawer in the entry hall, she heard an excited shout and hoofsteps from further in the apartment.
A dark orange filly with purple hair came running around the corner. “Auntie AJ, you’re home!” Applejack brightened and opened her arms to grasp the filly in a hug.
“And hey to you too, Babs,” Applejack laughed as she tousled her younger cousin’s hair. Applejack looked up from Babs Seed to the pony leaning against the wall at the end of the entrance hall just before the sitting room. “Thank you kindly, Marigold, for watching her. What did you two do today?”
The red-orange earth pony shifted her weight and followed Applejack and Babs Seed as they went into the sitting room. “I took Babs on a walk through Celestial Park for most of the day. She does enjoy it so much.” Applejack splayed herself on the couch across from Marigold. “Oh, can I get you anything?”
Applejack thought for a moment. Just being done with her day and home was enough. Her throat was parched. Babs was around anyway, so nothing alcoholic. She always felt guilty about drinking in front of her niece. “I could use a nice glass of tea actually. With some ice.”
“Of course.” Marigold nodded and began to move toward the kitchen.
She was quickly cut off by Babs Seed scurrying into the kitchen. “I’ll get it AJ!” Babs ran into the kitchen.
With Babs in the kitchen fetching Applejack the cold drink, Marigold and Applejack had a moment alone. Applejack’s smile dropped, and her features became weathered. Marigold settled on the couch opposite Applejack. “Rough day?” Marigold said, seeing Applejack sink further into the soft cushions of the couch.
“Yeah,” Applejack replied, thoroughly dropping the accent now that she was in private. “I forgot how much it takes outta me to be at the Exchange that early in the mornin’. And then talkin’ with so many ponies all day, going over the bank’s finances, writin’ so many calculations and contracts...” Applejack trailed off with a weary sigh. Babs Seed and her nanny Marigold were two of the few ponies Applejack would let her upper class accent drop and let her natural Ponyville accent slip through. It had been just over two years since Applejack hired Marigold to help care for Babs while Applejack was busy in the Apple Manehattan offices or on business trips.
“Well don’t worry about all that now. You have the whole evening ahead of you. I can stay tonight if you’d like and keep watching Babs, give you a night to yourself.”
“Oh no, I wouldn’t want to put that on you. It’s enough that you watched her as much as you have today. It completely slipped my mind that Babs had today off. Usually the school holidays and bank holidays coincide. Coming on such short notice, I can’t thank you enough.”
“It was no trouble at all.”
Applejack’s eyes flickered down at the floor before locking on Marigold’s eyes. “Thank you Marigold. I can’t imagine how hard it is as an only foal. At least I had Apple Bloom and Big Mac with me when I was her age.”
“I know you want to give everything to Babs you can.” Marigold spoke softly. “And you do, but a pony in your position has so many responsibilities it’s tough to be there every moment you want to. I’m grateful to provide any help I can.”
“Thank you again, Marigold.”
Applejack fell silent and her jaw hardened. Her eyes glanced to the kitchen, and her eyes strained, fighting back a few tears. Marigold and Applejack shared a moment of silence.
“I got your tea, AJ!” Babs Seed came back into the room holding a mug, ice clinking against the edges.
“Aw, thanks kiddo!” Applejack took the mug from her cousin and took a sip. The soothing tea felt good on her tired throat. She let out a deep breath. “Ahh I needed that.”
“You’re welcome. Oh, we got some mail today!” As usual, Babs ran off right after she finished her thought and got a card off the counter. She returned carrying a letter in her mouth and nearly dropped it as she excitedly tried to keep talking through it. “Two letters from Ponyville! I got one from Apple Bloom, and this one’s for you!”
“Thank you Babs.” Applejack took the letter in her hooves. It was hoofwritten with a photograph of her relatives back in Ponyville paper clipped to the letter. Her younger sister, Apple Bloom, her older brother, Big Macintosh, and her grandmother, Granny Smith, all smiling in front of the old barn on the orchard. She stared longingly at the photo for a few moments feeling a lump start to form in her throat.
Marigold called Babs over to her. “Come here, Babs. I think Applejack may want a little space.”
Applejack let out a difficult breath and read the letter silently.
“Hey there little sis,” it began.
“I hope you’re doing okay in the big city. They opened an Apple Bank here in Ponyville not too long ago. I’m proud to have a little slice of your empire even out here, and ponies here seem like they’ve taken to it well.
“As for us, it’s been rough. We had to hire a new farmhoof to help with the harvest season last year; another earth pony. As usual Granny didn’t want us hiring a unicorn or pegasus to keep in the family tradition. Pinkie Pie is her name. She’s a dour sort, doesn’t talk much. But she works hard and was a quick learner for applebucking. Good coordination too. She also has a cutie mark in baking, which has been real helpful for making pies and such to tide us over after the harvest. I think we may have finally found a keeper for the long haul. And thank you for the money you sent last winter, it really helped us through it. Sales have been okay so far, and so far the trees are coming back healthier and stronger. Winter Wrap Up was late again, but we’re making up for it as best we can. I think we’ll be alright.
“Granny’s doing okay as ever, but Apple Bloom has had been having trouble in school. She says her classmates are getting their cutie marks left and right and she’s getting anxious about why she hasn’t gotten hers yet. I try to comfort her but I can’t find the words. Granny and I are starting to get a mite worried too. You know me and Granny got ours pretty early. But with you… I’m worried Apple Bloom may be destined for something not apple-related. No offense, you know that, but with you taking so long to get yours I’m just concerned, that’s all. I’m just worried she’ll want to move away like you did, and I don’t want to end up with Sweet Apple Acres being shorthooved even with hiring Pinkie PIe.
“Anyway, I’m rambling on again and don’t want to concern you none more than I already have. We’ll get by, don’t you worry. Granny and AB say hi. We miss you.
“Big Mac”
Applejack sighed. There was a small arrow on the bottom. She turned the page over. Different hoofwriting adorned the top of the back of the letter. She immediately recognized it as Granny Smith’s.
“P.S. Do come to the next family reunion, dear, if you can. I know the city life has you busy as a bee, but you missed the last one, and it’s been so many moons since we’ve seen you in pony. Bring Babs too. Apple Bloom could use a friend. I tried setting her up with Filthy Rich’s daughter since they’re in the same class, but AB didn’t seem to get along with her.”
The family reunion; it was in a few weeks, wasn’t it. Applejack folded the letter back up and hung her head. She had missed the last one, hadn’t she. And Babs had never been to an Apple family reunion. And poor Apple Bloom. There was so much in the letter that hit Applejack all at once. Applejack swallowed hard. She didn’t want Marigold or Babs to see her moping around. She had to be strong for Babs.
Applejack looked up to see Marigold giving her a sideways glance as she made idle chat with Babs Seed. Applejack collected herself. “Thank you for bringing me the letter Babs. I’m always glad to hear from Big Mac and the family.”
Babs stopped talking to Marigold and turned to Applejack. “Of course.”
Applejack stood up from the couch. “Come ‘ere and give your cousin a hug.” Babs ran over and hugged her cousin’s foreleg tightly. “I think that’s good enough for today, Marigold. Again, I really can’t thank you enough.”
“Any time.” Marigold replied as Applejack and Babs Seed walked her to the door. They said their goodbyes to Marigold and were alone together in the apartment.
The rest of the evening passed uneventfully. Applejack made herself and Babs a dinner of carrot and tomato sandwiches with hay fries, and they chatted about each other’s day. Through it all the thought of her family in Ponyville lingered in Applejack’s mind. After dinner when Babs was clearing the dishes, Applejack tried to busy herself with thinking over her schedule for the next few days. She needed to go over the bank audits for that year’s imperial tax collection with her chief financial officer and then there was the magazine interview on her rise to success tomorrow.
Even thinking through her busy schedule, she still couldn’t shake the feelings brought on by the letter from Big Macintosh completely. Applejack found herself staring out the window of the sitting room, gazing out over the roofs of Manehattan as the sun set slowly over the horizon in her peripheral.
Applejack lost track of how long she had been staring out the window when she felt a warm body lean into her left side. She twitched and took a quick involuntary breath.
“What’re you thinking about AJ?” Babs asked.
Applejack slowly let the breath out, collecting her thoughts. “Just thinkin’ about my family. Back in Ponyville I mean. I miss ‘em.”
Babs looked up into Applejack’s face still staring out the window. “I’d like to meet everyone in Ponyville some day.”
Applejack smiled. “I’d like that too. You and Apple Bloom would get along like two peas in a pod.”
“Why can’t we go?”
Applejack sighed. “I would really love to. But I’ve just got too much goin’ on at work right now.” Babs frowned and slumped her shoulders. Applejack knew why. She had been saying that a lot these days when Babs asked if they could do things together. Applejack sighed. “I know Babs, I know. Look, there’s a family reunion coming up in a few weeks. Maybe we can go then, but… I don’t know. These days it just feels like I’ve been gettin’ busier and busier. I can’t make promises, but I’ll try.”
“Now get yourself off to bed, it’s already sunset.”
Babs’s frown hardened. “Aw come on, Applejack. You and Marigold always let me stay up past sunset!”
“Yeah, but that’s earlier in the year when the days are shorter. It’s gonna be the beginning of summer in a few weeks, and you know that means the sun’s setting later and later. It’s almost nine o’clock, and I know for a fact you do have school tomorrow.”
“But I don’t wanna!”
Applejack softened her tone and smirked. “I don’t have to be up early tomorrow. If you go to bed now, we can get ice cream before you go to school. How’s that for a treat.”
Babs Seed thought for several seconds as if this were the most difficult decision she had to make in her life. Finally, she mumbled “okay”, but stayed standing next to Applejack for half a minute longer, staring out the window with Applejack. “I love you AJ,” she broke the silence at last. Babs squeezed Applejack’s left foreleg.
“I love you too Babs.” Applejack looked behind her as the filly started back to her room.
Applejack sat down in her place in front of the window for another few minutes, admiring the view. About a mile southwest of Applejack’s penthouse, the offices of the Coltsler Building were still brightly lit even as the orange light of sunset turned to the purple aura of twilight. One of the best things about this particular apartment was indeed this view of the Coltsler Building. Its tapering silver arches at the top gave the building a distinctive look of concentric chrome horseshoes, with the spire capping it spiraling like a great steel unicorn horn.
Applejack squinted as she saw a silhouette darting across the face of the rising moon. From the looks of it, it was a pegasus. The silhouette flew to a window about two thirds of the way up the Coltsler Building. Applejack watched the pegasus hover at the window for a moment in the moonlight. She decided to briefly go over some of the ledgers she had at home with her before turning in to get a head start on the next morning’s duties.
***
The pegasus hovered in front of the window on the 52nd floor of the Coltsler Building and rapped a hoof on the glass. The window opened and another poked their head out. “Here’s tonight’s mail delivery,” the pegasus said.
The other pony looked the pegasus up and down. The pegasus was wearing a brown collared shirt and hat, with winged horseshoes on the back hooves. It was the distinct mailcarrier’s uniform of the Pony Express. “Good. Give me the package.”
“Sure thing.” The pegasus slid a briefcase onto the window sill where it was taken by the other pony. “Sign here please.” The pegasus thrust a clipboard and pen through the gap in the window.
The other pony rolled their eyes. “Ugh, you must be new. Fine, I’ll explain how these things work just this once. Stagecoach tells you to get me these weather reports, and you bring them to me. No signing, no nothing. She and I have an arrangement for this. Nothing you need to worry about.”
“But-”
“No buts. Since this is your first time doing this assignment, I’ll get you a note to give to her.” The unicorn said through gritted teeth. “Don’t worry. Stagecoach will recognize the hoofwriting.”
“O...kay,” the pegasus cocked her head. This was against Pony Express protocol, but the other pony did mention her boss by name. Without any prompting too. She shrugged. It must be one of the privileges of running your own mail service, and in turn knowing somepony who runs a mail service.
The other pony came back to the window with a note in a sealed envelope. “There. Tell Stagecoach the weather reports arrived on time.” The pony took hold of the raised window pane and grumbled, half out of habit and half to the pegasus. “He couldn’t have put a less conspicuous pegasus on the route? I guess she’s fast enough.” The pony closed the window with a thud.
The pegasus stared at the note as she hovered, slowly beating her wings to back away from the window. What was all that about? Well, it wasn’t her problem and she needed to keep this job. The pegasus shrugged, put the envelope in her shirt pocket so it wouldn’t get jumbled with the rest of the mail if she forgot the next day, and flew off.