Striving for Perfection

This can't be happening.

I pressed myself against the train window and stared in shock at the approaching city. Outside the window, I was met by far, from the city I expected. Manehatten turned out to be not just another medieval city, it turned out to be industrial. A lot of skyscrapers, a huge bridge over which a train is now traveling, a poor version of The Statue of Liberty and even a large accumulation of smoke talking about only one thing. There are factories here. In my head, a rapid activity immediately began.

Why is Manehatten exactly like this? Why is even the capital stuck in the Middle Ages while Manehatten is a hundred years ahead? I won't be able to sleep peacefully if I don't find out the truth. To hell with everything, I need to find out what the secret of this city is. I don't know how but I'll find out.

The train slowly started to stop and I got up to get out. I squeezed through a lot of ponies with difficulty and stood in front of the door. The train door opened and a wave of ponies poured out of the train. Constantly dodging the pony, I was finally able to get off the train. After leaving the train, I looked around for something that could help me. For example, a tourist card.

After a while, I noticed a small shop located right at the train station. The shop looks surprisingly simple. In fact, a gray box with large windows and surprisingly well cleaned from snow. I first felt my pockets in search of bags of gold and making sure that they were in place, I started moving towards the shop.

The door opened and I went into the shop with the bell ringing. I immediately felt the temperature change and stopped for a second to look around. The whole shop was lit by a pair of light bulbs creating the effect of warmth. A large and, judging by the patches, old carpet is spread out on the floor. Numerous shelves were filled with various things for tourists. Postcards, key chains and the like. Suddenly, the sound of hooves was heard from the back room and, turning to the sound, I saw an Earth pony. He had fur of a dark shade of orange and a bright red mane.

Reluctantly approaching the wide table separating the store and the utility room, she began to say in a female voice, "Have you come to buy or just to warm up?"

Oops. I completely forgot that I can't distinguish ponies from each other, and even more so I can't determine the gender.

I dropped the initial surprise and carefully approached her so as not to touch the goods. When I got to her, I put my hands on the table and started a conversation

"I need a map of the city. -"I paused for a second to think about the idea and continued. "-And I need a paper clip."

"Ho ho. I'm sorry, stud, but I have no idea what and where is here." She replied with a fair amount of sarcasm in the word "I'm sorry."

A difficult case. Most likely a teenager who was forced to work here and even more likely that her parents did it. I'll have to use heavy artillery.

I bent down slightly to look the young lady straight in the eyes "Adolescence, unjustified self-confidence and the desire to drop out of school. The perfect description of you, right?"

"How you?" She started to speak, but I quickly interrupted her.

"I really like to delve into any topic to such an extent until I become at least an expert in it and at most perfection. Psychology has become one of these topics. Therefore, I perfectly understand what you need. You want two things. Complete individualization and the need for peer approval. But don't you think it contradicts each other? Maybe instead of merging with the merciless and faceless crowd, you need to go against the flow like a real revolutionary? Well, will you be a good, adult woman and help the kind mister find the map? " I said, ruffling her hair with my hand.

She paused for a couple of seconds, studying me carefully. In response, I continued to look at her with a fake friendly look. After a few seconds, she replied with her head tilted to the side, "I didn't understand anything, old man."

Every day I become more and more convinced that I am surrounded by idiots. I simplified my thought to something that can be written in children's books. I'll have to turn to a secret trick that my father taught me. I really didn't want to resort to this. A bribe.

I pulled out one bag of gold coins from my pocket and looked at the young lady, "How much should I give you so that I can inspect everything that is here. Including working spaces."

She smugly pressed a hoof to her chin and mumbled, ostensibly thinking. Although I doubt that it can be classified as an intelligent being.

She finally lowered her hoof and said "Fifty Bits."

I quickly started rummaging through the bag, throwing ten Bits on the table each time. After repeating this procedure five times, I returned the bag in my pocket and headed to the back room. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that she was surprised that I really gave the required amount. Before I went into the back room, I heard her talking to herself

"Really an old man. Still pays with ordinary Bits."

I didn't pay much attention to it and began to inspect the back room. For the first second, the smell of cigarette smoke hit my nose. I covered my nose with my hand and returned to the back room. Among the piles of junk and a simple exit to the street, I found the things I needed with great difficulty. A city map and a paper clip. I took a large map out of my pocket and put it against the wall. Then I attached a small map to a large map in such a way as to hold the entire structure with one hand. And as a final touch, I stapled two maps with a paper clip so that his map was in place in Manehattan. I barely folded the double map so that it fit into my pocket and left the back room.

Going outside, I took out a double card and began to think where I should go. My attention was attracted by the City Hall, which is located in the city center. I stood for a couple of minutes making up the route and memorizing it started moving to the City Hall. During the walk, I began to explore the city.

First of all, I noticed a lot of skyscrapers. I could call them beautiful, but I'm more concerned about another question.

Where do people live? Usually such skyscrapers are occupied by large companies and these are jobs rather than housing. But during the observation from the train, I did not see a single residential building.

Looking around, I noticed that there was no one on the streets. No ordinary citizens, no drunkards. Only snow keeps me company. I looked at the sun to determine the approximate time. Five o'clock in the evening, give or take half an hour. Isn't this the time when people go out with friends or something? Okay, I'll get to the mayor's office and sort it out there.

I continued my way through the snow-covered city, crossing intersections and not ceasing to peer into every corner. By the time I stopped feeling my hands, a building with a flag hanging on it looked out from around the corner. The flag looks like a blue canvas with stars, two alicorns and images of the moon and sun. At the sight of this flag, I immediately had a number of thoughts involuntarily in my head.

Cult of personality, imperialism, nationalism.

I shrugged off these thoughts and headed to the City Hall. After entering the building, I rubbed my hands together to keep warm. Having warmed up, I looked around the building and immediately noticed a pony with glasses who was sitting at a large table and there were a lot of file cabinets behind her.

I went up to her and started saying, "I need to meet with the mayor."

She looked at me with an emotionless look, sigh wearily and said before going to the file cabinet, "Just a minute."

She got up from her chair and went to the file cabinet. While she was rummaging through the file cabinet, I turned away and began to inspect the room. On the ceiling there was a large window through which the evening light filtered through. And the building had a total of eight columns, four on each side. Next to each column there was a pot with some kind of plant. Seeing the evening light falling on one of them, I yawned without noticing it myself. Maybe not sleeping on the train was a bad idea.

"The purpose of the visit?" She asked, taking a document from the file cabinet and putting it on the table.

I doubt that the reason "I need to know why this city is developed" will be considered significant. Besides, demanding a favor and not giving anything in return is not my style.

I slightly changed my position to massage my temple.

But I have a lot of really good ideas that I usually don't mention so as not to turn the conversation into a lecture. Just give the mayor a little idea in exchange for information.

"I want to discuss a new bill with the mayor."

"Name?" she asked, not paying much attention to my words.

"Daniel Ctumer."

"The one? Who was first called a monster, then abruptly a hero and eventually appointed captain of the guard?"

"Yes." I answered briefly without hiding a small smile.

She looked at the document and said, "The nearest available place in the mayor's schedule will be the day after tomorrow at three o'clock in the afternoon. Will it suit you?"

"Not the best option. What's the next window in the schedule?"

"The twenty-sixth of January. . ."

She wanted to continue talking, but I quickly interrupted her, "I get it. So the day after tomorrow at three o'clock."

I turned around and was about to leave, but I remembered my main task and asked, "And by the way, do you know where the Manehattan hammer workshop is located?"

She started tapping her chin in thought and after a few seconds said, "It's somewhere in an industrial area."

Seeing my uncomprehending face, she continued, "The industrial area is located in the east of the city, next to the shore."

"Thanks for the tip." I said before leaving the City Hall and looking at the map again.

Looking at the map and assuming that the part of the city in which the roads are very thin is industrial areas, I made a surprising conclusion. I'll have to search a huge area.

I started walking towards the industrial area.

It will take a long time.

"My legs." I said, rubbing them with my hands longingly.

To say that finding one particular workshop in a whole huge area was difficult would be an understatement. Now the moon has begun to set over the horizon and I have just found the right store. Besides, the lack of sleep has already begun to take its toll and I'm barely conscious.

Barely able to stand on my feet, I stretched out my hand to the door of the store and pulled. There is no reaction. One more time. There is no reaction. The door is closed.

"Fuck!" I said angrily hitting the nearest trash can.

There was a big dent in the tank, but fortunately it didn't fall. I took a deep breath and exhaled. Calming down a bit, I opened the map again and started looking for a hotel. Fortunately, she was relatively close. I once again started moving to the next destination and, along with the movement, I regularly winced in pain.

Well, I need to take stock of this day. I made an appointment with the mayor. I found the right store, but it was closed for the night. In fact, the whole day was a preparation for the next. As I always expected to be a detective is terrible. As always, I was right.

As soon as the hotel appeared in my field of vision, I immediately ran to the door and entered the building. Due to fatigue, I didn't even pay attention to the room around me and immediately asked a loud question

"How much money for a room?"

"Do you have to shout like that?" Asked the stallion sitting at the table and behind which the keys were hung.

I came closer to him and said with a normal intonation, "How much money for a room?"

"One hundred. Receipts are accepted."

I pulled out the bag of gold again and started pulling the required amount out of it. As I laid out the money, the gears began to move in my head.

A receipt? Judging by the context, it implies receipts that were issued in exchange for gold so that the valuables could be taken away later. Soon, the owner's name was no longer written on the receipts and they began to be used for exchange. In short, the ancestor of modern paper money. I hope I didn't mix anything up.

The last energy of my brain was spent on digging into history and I completely switched to autopilot. The stallion handed me the key to the room and I immediately headed for the stairs. Looking at the key, I found out which room I got. Second floor, eighth room. With a final jerk, I walked up the stairs and opened the door to my room. I got tired to such an extent that I stopped paying attention to the pain.

I slammed the door behind me and immediately seeing the bed began to act. I took off my coat and threw it aside without thinking about all the valuable things in it. The coat landed loudly in the corner of the room and the sound of all my little things colliding with each other was heard. I also threw my T-shirt there, thus leaving the upper part of my body naked. I didn't have enough strength to take off my trousers, so I just fell on the bed and fell asleep almost instantly.