Crossing Anthology

We arrived in Manehattan; it’s a rather large city, almost like planet Earth’s ‘Manhattan’. There was even a colossal statue of a pony resembling the statue of Liberty. Between here and Ponyville, this has to be the most technologically advanced, however it still doesn’t stray too far from the telegraph, or perhaps ‘pony-graph’ in their case... I’m still adjusting; maybe exploring this city will comfort me.

So far I haven’t heard a single voice or seen a single image in my head since our picnic in the forest. I felt relaxed, I simply went with everything, and let the beauty of Manehattan’s lights and views take my focus away. Then suddenly I hear,

“Get out of the way, kid!”

Said a stallion, moving around me. Applejack trotted to me and said,

“That’s Manehattan for ya, too much hustle and bustle for any kind talkin.”

“I can definitely see, but I sure like this city’s look. So what’s on our agenda here?”

Twilight levitated out a checklist in front of her and said,

“Posting lost fliers. We should try to find a big hotel to post them in; I have the fliers in my saddle bag, let’s go.”

We went into a local hotel to ask about posting fliers regarding Spike’s kidnapping. We were approved and Twilight handed me a stack of fliers to post through the hotel hallways. Each of us was on a different floor of the building; posting fliers and asking guest questions. I was on floor ‘#4’ doing the job. After three hours of posting fliers and asking questions, we had zero luck. Not a single eye has seen Spike. Twilight then suggested trying another hotel the next morning, and checking in to the current hotel to hit the hay. Twilight felt it was appropriate seeing as we have been in here for hours, not using the hotel’s business for its intended use.

We got a rather small room; it had two queen-sized beds and a balcony which gave us a nice view of the city. Three ponies got into one bed, while the other three got into the other. I then curiously asked,

“Where do I sleep?”

The ponies then laughed and finally Fluttershy suggested,

“You could climb into a bed and snuggle up with us.”

I blushed and just stood there, eyes widened, and possibly bloodshot from what was suggested; I then reject the offer and said,

“I’m not really tired anyway; I think I’ll stop by the swimming pool.”

Fluttershy looked disappointed and I left the room. I entered the pool room, got out of my armor, and walked into the pool. The water was warm and relaxing, this is exactly what I needed after a day of hard work. I did front flips and back flips off the diving board over and over, stood on my hands under water and even allowed myself to float along the surface. I then wondered how long I could hold my breath for, so I went down and started counting; after thirty seconds my vision began to fade, then my vision returned, but the water was a dark glowing green color. I was moving my arms and legs rapidly trying to get back to the surface, and as I reached the surface I looked forward and I saw him, King, my former enslaver. I looked down to see that he put me in a large cauldron. I looked ahead again and saw that he had a small zebra character held at gun point, being told to do exactly as he said. My true vision returned and I was in the hotel pool again. It was just another horrifying mental image.

I rushed out of the pool and got in my suit, I didn’t even dry myself off. I ran out of the pool room and took the stairs back up to the hotel room. I stepped inside the room, got out of my armor again. I hopped into one of the beds and held Fluttershy close to me, nuzzling into her soft chest. She then woke up and looked down at me, she smiled and quietly said,

“Awww… How sweet…”

She put her hooves fore-legs around me and pulled me closer, and I drifted off to sleep.