Author's Note
This has been in my google docs for a long time. I actually just found it while working on something else. I hope y'all enjoy this.
Chapter 1
Lights from a neon sign flickered inside of a cheap hotel room. Besides a half melted candle, it was the only source of light since the bulb in the lamp had blown ages ago. The room had simple amenities: a bed, nightstand, chair, and a copy of Celestia’s biography. It wasn’t meant to be grand, but just enough for a cheap night’s stay.
In this room, a pony paced back and forth. When she stopped, she began to tap her hoof along the carpeted floor. Seconds felt like minutes, and minutes felt like hours. It wasn’t until ten minutes had past did she run to the bathroom and slam the door. There, she stayed for a few more minutes until she walked out with a grim look.
“So what’s the verdict?” Came a feminine voice on the bed, “Are you knocked up?”
“You would like to know, wouldn’t ya?” replied the pony.
“Of course. Well, I need something to keep me preoccupied while I’m tied down, Miss Moxie Doo.”
The pony grabbed the candle and walked towards the bed. With the burning light coming closer, the image of a apprehended griffin could be seen. Her black feathers seemed to take in the light, while her yellow beak reflected it back out. She wore a slight smirk as she rolled towards the pony.
“Well? Are you pregnant or not?” The bird asked.
Moxie sighed before she sat down in the chair, “Yes, I am with foal.”
“Congratulations! When I free myself from these ropes, I’ll make sure to hit everything but your abdomen.”
“Good luck, that’s Saddle Arabian rope. You talons will break before you cut it, “ Moxie explained. She began to gather her equipment and one silver coin, “Anyway, I’m out this joint. You enjoy your stay.”
“Wait...you’re leaving me here?!”
Moxie walked to the door, opened it, and turned around to the griffin, “Well, Lena, seeing as you just tried to kill me, I say you deserve two nights of bed rests; I told the owner to not disturbed you.”
“Where do you think you’re going?!” Lena asked, struggling against her binds.
“I’m not going to raise this child alone…” Moxie answered, holding a pair of glasses and a name tag in her hoof that read “Leser Page”
The smell of perfumed fake flowers drifted through the air of the hotel lobby Moxie had walked into. She knew what real flowers smelled like and these were not close, but someone who lived in the city wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. She doubted they could distinguish anything. Distracted, she was shoved aside by a group of tourists.
She hated Manehatten. The tourist, gangs, violence, culture etc. It all made this city the thing she disliked. Why couldn’t it be a simple town with short buildings? No, they had to be different and build skyscrapers. She swore once she found the father of her child she would leave and never come back.
Moxie walked into the hotel looking for her mate. She passed plenty of stallions that suited her likings. She saw the athletic type that could keep up with her speed. She saw the strong type that could even put her to shame. Unfortunately, these weren’t the male she was looking for, so she made her way to the front desk where a less-than-amazing stallion sat.
Moxie looked over this yellow fur male before sighing to herself. She could only hope he’d remember her from last time. Then again, without his glasses, he probably wouldn’t recognize her.
“Excuse me, I need assistance.” Moxie said, tapping her hoof on the desk.
“Yes, how can I help you... Moxie?” replied the stallion, looking up from a pile of books. His smile was actually genuine and not forced, unlike other ponies in the town, and his eyes squinted to try to see her.
“You remember me?”
“Of course. I mean It's hard to see without my frames, but I can't forget a voice and outline. You stayed here a couple weeks ago. Is everything okay or are you here for another stay?"
“I actually here to speak with you, Leser,” Moxie explained, handing over the glasses.
“You came all this way just to return my stuff, that's so nice. Wait...you remembered my name? No one remembers my name. Not even my boss.”
Moxie couldn't bring herself to mention she only remembered because she just looked at the name tag. She also noticed the stallion didn’t make eye contact; his eyes stayed aiming downwards even after putting on his glasses.
“It wasn't the main reason I came here.I have something you may want to know about.”
The sound of doors being forcefully flung open rang through the hotel lobby. In the next moment a squad of stallions walked into the room. Bandages were wrapped around different areas of their bodies as if they had been through great pain in the past. Irritated looks were plastered on all their faces as they scanned the room until they landed on the tan mare in the middle of the room.
“She is over there by the wimpy pegusus!”yelled one of the goons, “Get her and the coin!”
“What about the stallion?” asked another one of the goons, “He might know something?”
“Ehhh mines well. If anything, he’ll make a good punching bag .”
Without hesitation, the mob charged towards the mare, pushing anything or anypony out of their way. She didn’t hesitate either when she began running in the opposite direction. Though, when she heard only her own hooves she turned around to investigate. To her annoyance, Leser was standing in his exact spot, eyes locked on his incoming doom. His legs quivered and his body refused to listen to respond.
Moxie debated for a moment about going back for the stallion. She could either have a clean escape or a difficult one with deadweight. Her hooves turned back to escaping, yet when she thought of explaining the missing father to her child, she went to save her mate.
“Snap out of it, “ Moxie commanded, “We don’t have time to daydream!”
Getting his sense back, Les stammered,”O-o-kay…”
Hurrying from behind his desk, Les followed Moxie towards the staircase. Without a second thought, she kicked the door in and began climbing the stairs. Les, while following, worried about the cost of the door she just destroyed, yet his thoughts were cut off quick when the goons entered the stairwell and started climbing themselves.
The unicorns within the stallion squad shot bolts towards the two escaping ponies, only missing them by a few inches or hitting a stair underneath a hoof. But the two ponies kept running, even though one didn’t know why.
“Uhh do you mind explaining why these stallions want to hurt us?” Leser asked in between his gasps of of air.
“That would require a lot of explaining, and we don’t have time for that. Just follow me and try to help if you can because these stairs don’t go forever!” Moxie stated, narrowly getting hit by a magical bolt.
Leser thought to himself as he ran. It wasn’t until he noticed they were approaching the 8th floor did he jump to action. He pushed his scrawny legs to the max and managed to get in front of Moxie, Next, he stopped, opened the door on the 8th floor, and ushered her in. Once she crossed the threshold, he closed the door, pulled out his keys, and looked for the correct one.
One by one he examined the keys trying to find the right one. Moxie watched as her anxiety grew. She could hear the many hoof steps climbing up towards the stairwell. Part of her wanted to run, too much was on the line for her to get caught, yet her conscious told her to wait. And wait she did, until Leser found the key and locked the door. Only moments later were the guards smashing against the door trying to get it open.
“You like cutting it close,huh?” Moxie asked,surveying the room, “And why didn’t you think of that earlier?”
“Well, I was more focused on running...and I only have keys for this floor,” Leser explained, “This is the employee living floor; this is my room actually.”
Moxie looked around and saw stacks of books. There were essentials such as a bed, a dresser, and things like that. However, it seems the books were the main aspect of this stallions life. She wanted to ask about him about his collection, yet the mob outside the door had different plans.
“Well what now, Les?” Moxie asked, picking up a book about Bison tribes in Northern Equestria.
“Don’t you have a plan? You’re the one who grabbed me and told me to run!”
“Yeah, well to be honest, I didn’t think this far ahead…”
Leser closed his eyes, thinking of possible ways to get out of the situation. It wasn’t helping that the splintering of the door meant time was running out. The elevators weren’t an option since they were too loud and the guard would know. The stairwell wasn’t an option because of obvious reasons. He didn’t know what else to until he thought about the layout of the building.
“...laundry chute.”
“What?”
“The laundry chute. It’ll lead us directly to the basement where we can go up one level and leave.”
“Well let’s go!”
Leser hesitated before speaking once again, “There’s a chance a basket might not be there to catch us…”
“Well, would you rather take a chance or a be punching bag for months to come?”
Leser walked over to the laundry shoot and opened it. For one moment, he was determined and serious. Though, once he saw the drop with a small light and the bottom, his reserve cracked. He eyes darted between Moxie and the drop, debating on what to do.
“Ladies...first?” He whimpered
“For the love of Celestia…”
Moxie walked over, looked into the drop, and became confused. Les noticed this and also looked into the drop, but couldn’t see anything different from what he had seen earlier. Then, he felt a force on his back , followed by the sensation of falling. The scream in his throat was clamped shut by his own neck muscles. He could only descend and hope the ever growing light held some salvation.
“Open your eyes; we are perfectly fine,”Moxie spoke, irritated, “and take your skinny arms from around me.”
“I’ll let go when I’m certain this is all a dream,” Leser replied,” Just a few minutes ago I was sitting behind my desk and reading. Now, I’m running away from goons, and jumping down laundry chutes.”
Moxie pushed the stallion off of her and jumped out the roller cart. Her nose scrunched to the smell of dirty clothes she was now aware of. They both needed to get away from the pile before the stench becomes part of them. So, giving a helping hoof, she yanked Les out the basket, and started to trot away.
“Okay look, I have this coin,” Moxie whispered, taking out the coin from her shirt pocket, “ It’s not any normal coin. When placed in the right socket, it’ll open a door that will lead us to a map.”
“Okay…”
“Those goons are working chasing me because their employer wants the coin. I can’t let them get it because...well they are the bad buys and I don’t know why they want it...yet.”
“That’s all fine and dandy, but what does that have to do with me? I don’t even know you!”
“It does deal with you...well it deals with you now…”
“I don’t see how. My life is simple, “Les said, unlocking the door to head towards the stairs, “ I tend to the hotel desk. I read books about Equestria…”
“And you’re also now a father...”
“Excuse me?”
“Look...I ain’t about to do some long explanation. You and I had sex. I’m pregnant. And I aint gonna raise this kid alone,” Moxie stated, following Les up the stairwell.
“How do you know I’m the father?”
“Are you insinuating I get around? ”Moxie asked grabbing the stallion by his shirt, “Because I don’t. I know you remember the night because based off your description of your life, it was probably the most exciting thing to happen to you in a while.”
“Of course I do...You came from your room already drunk. You asked me for more liquor which I pointed you to the bar. You grabbed me and dragged me over to be your drinking partner. After I blacked out, I woke up in one of the hotel rooms alone…”
“Yeah, because I quickly got out of there.” Moxie said, jumping in front of the stallion and looking into the lobby, “We can talk about this later, but we gotta go. There’s a train coming headed for Southern Equestria. There we can relax and think. Plus, I have a contact there who can explain some things to me.”
“We? There’s no we, Moxie. If the foal is mine, I’ll support you, but whatever crusade you’re on now isn’t my business.” Les asserted, walking back to his desk, “I’m going to contact the authorities, my boss, and get those jerks out of this hotel. I won’t let this ruin my normal life...”
Les walked to his desk and picked up the phone. He contacted the local authorities who said they’ll be there in a few minutes. Next he began to call his boss, yet she came from the hallway and looked Leser in the eyes. She had a worried look on her face before lifting her hoof and putting directly in his direction.
In a scared voice, she said, “The stallion is over here.”
Moxie ran over, grabbed Leser and stared at him, as if she was looking for an answer. He sighed before nodding, and quickly shoving a few books into his satchel before jumping over the counter and running for the door. No sooner than he did, The goons appeared behind the owner and began chasing them down, yelling obscenities and threats.
Moxie and Les’s pace quickened as they ran outside of the hotel. Once outside the authorities had arrived, yet moxie planned to keep running since she knew the train would be coming soon, but Les slowed down. He turned towards one Officer and yelled that the goons were heavily armed and chasing them for no reason. Once he did finished, he returned to running with Moxie.
“That should keep them busy for a while, " Les said, catching up to Moxie; the sounds of the goons and the authorities fighting grew louder.
"Let's hope, but in my experience, they'll always find a way to appear again, so make sure to remember their faces; they'll be with us for a while, "Moxie said. A smile on her face that she had accomplished her goal, "Anyway, let's hurry I don't wanna miss the train."
