Nighthaze: Manehattan

"Mr. Dusk, did ponies really used to live outside of the cities? I mean, like, besides those mines and stuff."

The question took a moment to pierce the thick layer of apathy that I wore the same as my threadbare jacket. It was Sawdust, the new kid.

"Yes, actually. In fact, half a century ago there were more ponies living in the countryside and in small towns than in cities. That is not even to mention the gryphons, zebras, and dragons who had almost nothing resembling cities at the time," I said, pushing my glasses up my nose a bit.

The little tan and ochre colt sat for a moment, tapping his hoof on his chin, before some foal tried to throw a stylus at his head until I caught it with my magic.

"That's dumb, who cares what happened a zillion years ago? Shut up so we can leave already!" spat Razor Burn, who'd failed preliminaries several times and was now older than any of his classmates by several years.

The class became quiet for a fraction of a moment before the low rumble of murmurs and conversation resumed. I shot Razor Burn a cold glare but he just made a noise and waved a hoof at me as he turned to look out the slit window.

When I looked back Sawdust was gone and the classroom door was swinging on its rusty hinges.

"Class dismissed, projects due in 2 weeks. Refer to the notes on Chapter 9 for the DSCore database login credentials. Remember to only used vetted papers and models, that's 20% of the grade!" before I had even finished half of the class was already out of the room. Everyone was shuffling around a dark grey mare with a pink mane who was looking decidedly not happy and directly at me.

"And be sure to have a wonderful Dawnray day, courtesy of Dawncare Academics and Education!" she pipped with as much manufactured enthusiasm as a cheap AI assistant.

Once all of the students had left and she finished flashing those creepy half smiles everywhere she closed the door with a sharp kick from her back leg.

"Every day, the morning motto and the afternoon one. It. Is. Not. Hard. Silver Dusk," she punctuated every jabbed word with a severe step forwards. She puffed a gust of hot air in my face and leveled a cold stare.

"Your incompetence, faltering memory, or deliberate indifference to corporate policy aside I have come for other reasons today. Consider that a sliver of fortune on your part, otherwise I'd have you up on several article 15's," she said.

"How can I help you Ms. Skies?" I said.

"Ms. Clear Skies," she said.

"Ms. Clear Skies," I Said.

"The entire question again, if you would," she said.

"How can I help you, Ms. Clear Skies?" I said.

"Corporate cutbacks, we're cutting you lose. You needn't worry about your employment however as Dawncare is contracting you and several other dead weight staff to another facility. The ninth district Dawncare Pre-Vocational School," she said.

"ninth district?!" I replied incredulously.

"Oh yes, they were quite certain. If the rumors I hear are true, and they very so often are, they are re-opening the Pre-Vo school to comply with some compromise pact with a recent influx of zebra refugees. Apparently it's policy to give refugees 'an opportunity for self-advancement'. Have fun sitting behind a desk in a mop closet for the rest of your career," she said, with a surprising amount of venom. Surprising even given her normal toxic disposition.

I stared for a long time before sinking into myself. Sitting flat on my haunches I threw up a little in my mouth. That was the only time in my life I had ever seen the pegasus Clear Skies smile. She left slower than how she entered, I think she wanted to hear me cry. If she did, she got her wish.

//

They'd given me a week to settle in to my new hole-in-the-wall apartment in the ninth district. I should consider myself lucky that they at least gave me a working housing voucher, though something tells me the Residence Authority in this district wasn't as concerned with invalid housing vouchers as they were with keeping vandals from setting their offices on fire.

A package was on my counter from last night, the first bit of mail at my new address that wasn't bills or adverts. I was only half surprised to find a weather-beaten Bullmek BK-10c pistol, the Equestrian Expeditionary Forces variant of the common self-defense handgun. Dusty Dunes was an old friend of mine, us having the happenstance of attending the same schools throughout our foalhood. We only got separated when she went to serve two tours in the EEF. She'd tried to give me her old service weapon when I first told her about my re-assignment but I'd refused. I was never really a gun pony, especially when most situations could be resolved with an application of the right spell.

With a resigned sigh I closed the hard-shell weapons case and put it back in the chipboard box it came in. Shoving it under my bed I threw myself down onto the refurbished sheets and began scrolling through my phone. Nothing but click-bait news and orientation emails from DC, I tried calling Dusty but her line was off. She liked to ghost from tech every now and then, called it a crutch. Either way I couldn't even afford to post her weapon back to her right now. It'd have to wait until I got my first pay stub.

Several worn brown coats with similarly wore out black ties, a small plastiTuff keepsake container, a box of double-caff tea, and a paper bowl of starchy noodles from the corner bar I had passed on the way here. Besides my phone and my lethal parcel package that was the sum total of my possessions. There was no way I was paying 10 kB for my stuff to get shipped here, most of it was corp-issued junk anyways. Only thing I was going to miss was the coffee maker built into the wall. Always the perfect 193-degree cup of un-fuck my head needed in the morning. Tea would do for now.

A thunderous knocking at the door caused me to nearly throw myself out of bed. My gaze darted around before the knocks came again, and faster. Glancing beneath the bed before trotting to the door I would've checked the peephole if it hadn't been replaced by a bolt. I cracked open the door only to have it shoved back in my face, spending me sprawling on the ground.
A blood-encrusted hoof hung inches above my muzzle before it was replaced the face of a grizzled cherry earth pony.

"You're not Smokestack..." he said.

Too afraid to respond I simply shook my head.

"You know that shitstain? He owes me 200 kB and Ol' Rusty always gets paid," he said.

I shook my head again, wanting to ready some kind of spell but fearing he might crack my horn the moment he saw it light up.

The big pony crawled off me and dusted himself off before jabbing a hoof into my chest several times hard enough to wind me.

"Lime green coat, pale blue mane, usually tryin' to push something on ya. If you see that grimy SOB tell him Ol' Rusty wants what's his, and yesterday!" he shouted, shoving me back on my haunches as I tried to stand.

Just like that he was gone. Hurrying quickly to my hooves, I closed my door quietly and put the chain on.

I had trouble sleeping that night, so I counted the bullets in the BK-10c's magazines until morning.

Fifteen each, thirty in total.

//

Cold noodles and sink tea were my dawn companions soon followed by the Bullmek and its chest holster which I hid under my coat. Today being the first day I was required to show at the academy I got out of my apartment just after the heating towers hummed up.

The ninth district Dawncare Pre-Vocational School had more cobwebs, rusty hinges, and missing ceiling tiles than most abandoned buildings, then again up until recently it was an abandoned building. Heading to the principal's office I tightened my tie and adjusted my glasses before entering. A peach-coated mare with an ash gray mane sat behind an old wooden desk. Besides the paper thin carpet, the room was almost cozy, you almost didn't notice the smell of mildew.

"Good morning ma'am. I am Silver Dusk, here on reassignment as a teacher," I said.

"No need for the 'ma'am' here, just call me Gabby, short for Gabriela,” she said, pulling a p-Ink writing pad and setting it on her desk in front of me.

"You ruffled someone's feathers to get here but as long as you just do your job and don't cause a ruckus we'll be fine. Schedules and rosters are on the pad and you'll have credentials to the school's database when we get one," she said

Levitating the pad, I scrolled through my classes.

"Uhm, Gabby... I- is this the complete roster? I don't see any, well..." I said.

"Ponies. Or gryphons, or dragons, or kirin for that matter. For now, due to the minimal budget, large amount of refugees, and regulatory compliance, our school is almost exclusively zebra in the composition of its student body," she said.

"Ah," I said.

"Whatever reservations you have keep them to yourself. Do what you can, no one's expecting you to be some super pony. You'll have a translator assigned to you, she'll be your teaching assistant and facilitate communications with those who don't speak equestrian. I recommend forming a strong working relationship with them. It's all on that pad, don't lose it," she said.

"Of course. I should get ready for the first class," I said, nodding and turning to leave.
She didn't respond and I was grateful for that. Not sure if any of the questions I wanted to ask would yield useful answers. Best to focus on the class.

The room was like any other classroom just missing a few tiles. Every desk was defaced in some manner, including the teacher's desk that was to be mine. The room did curve slightly and have a large open space in front of the scribble-covered dry board, ostensibly for hands-on vocational instruction. I had 45 minutes until the class began and I spent most of it scrubbing the dry board with cleaner and dirty rags. When I had cleared a good spot in the middle I stopped to scrape together what pencils and scraps of paper were available. Just as I finished sharpening the last pencil a bell rung. It sounded like an old church bell but much quieter.

Soon striped colts and fillies of various ages began trickling into the classroom. Indecipherable foreign chatter filled the ambience of the room and not a single word of it was equestrian. A lot of the older ones, especially the ones with the gold bands around their forehooves and necks, clustered at the back of the classroom. They barely even looked my way. Most of the others, either younger or smaller, found seats or sat against the wall. As the last few made their way into the classroom a winged zebra with a short unkempt mohawk and an orange bandana around her neck trotted in and sat herself down in the chair next to mine. She was older than the others by a wide margin so I made a logical assumption.

"You must be the translator," I said.

With a raised eyebrow she said something in zebrican before kicking her hind legs up on the desk.

"Sable Sakra," she said.

"Can you please take your legs off my desk?" I said.

Narrowing her eyes, she reluctantly complied before responding.

"Another corporate cast-off sent to meet their quota," she said.

Ear twitching, I shot a sidelong glance her way as I turned to face the class.

"Good morning class, my name is Silver Dusk and I will be your teacher," I said, addressing the entire room. I got blank stares from the ones who were listening and the mumbling crowd on the back was even looking my way.

"If I could have your attention please, there in the back?" I projected.
I think one looked over his shoulder before continuing to ignore me. I caught a snicker and a grin from the zegasus next to me as I let out a long sigh.

Stomping my hoof on the beaten desk I made enough noise to get everyone's attention.

"Eyes forward, find your seats fillies and colts. Today is the first day so I just want to go over some study techniques," I said.

The crowd in the back started murmuring while they all looked at me. None of them went to their seats.

One of them, the oldest teen by his size, strutted up and jumped onto my desk. I staggered back as he smiled wickedly and stamped on the table, mocking me as he spat out a long string of zebrican. I had to assume it was not flattering as the entire class giggled and laughed in response.

"Silver Duck, Zoko," he said, jabbing his hoof into me chest before gesturing to himself. He jumped off the desk and returned to his group. I sat at a loss for words for a few seconds, then I stood and began my lesson.

Over the next hour and a half, I went over note-taking, how to maximize study effectiveness with breaks, and test taking strategies. I was regularly interrupted by mocking tones from the back or random bits of debris thrown my way from the same but I finished the lesson after what felt like an eternity. When the bell rung relief washed over me as I sank into my chair while the zebras left, all except one.

"It's the gun," said Sable Sakra.

"What? But I nev-"

"These aren't asylum seekers, they're war refugees. The Kardaugh Expansion has been active in their homelands for longer than most have been alive. They can see a pistol through a coat," she said.

I simply stared for the longest before she rolled her eyes.

"The wey'la sees anyone that carries a weapon as a warrior. They'll push and challenge you until you push back or back down," she said.

"So... I'll leave it at home," I said.

She laughed.

"Then you'll be just a pasanani, they won't even acknowledge your presence then. Wey'la, the warriors, will only listen to a warrior of equal or greater strength," she said.

"Are you suggesting I should fight my students?" I said.

Another chuckle.

"Maybe. It would be entertaining atleast. Watching you get picked apart in hoof-to-hoof combat would certainly get everyone's eyes and ears on you," she said.

"I know more than a few relatively harmless spells that could put them in their place," I said.

"Unicorn magic. Then you'll lose the respect of every colt and filly in this classroom, I'd say you'd lose mine aswell but you don't have it to begin with," she scoffed.

"What in Celestia's golden arse am I supposed to do then?" I said.

She simply shrugged with a dismissive flick of her ear.

"Read a book, let them be. Even the other gue'la kids that stared at you during your how-to-read lecture don't care about what you say. They just have nowhere else to be, nothing else to do," she said.

Looking at the empty classroom I laid my chin on my desk. After some minutes Sable Sakra left me to my somber ponderings. Another hour and I left the school, stopping by the corner bar for noodles.
Sleep came easily that night.