Felix sat curled up on his seat; tucking his paws under his tail and keeping one claw on his purse to ensure it was still there. He was wearing it around his neck, so it shouldn't fall off without him noticing, but it felt better to touch it.

Actually, he felt better just in general now that he'd been on the train for some hours. He'd done one hard part —actually getting on, finding his seat and getting his ticket clipped.

Not that he'd been completely alone for some of that. Oh, not his moms; they had wanted to come, but he'd convinced them not too. If he got too scared and couldn't leave, they'd worry a lot if they saw his breakdown and that would just make everything worse. He'd made them stay home —with the promise that he'd call them once he got to Moony's apartment building.

No, Time Tracker had met him at the station. The stallion had taken Felix payment and given him the ticket he'd bought for him. Felix was fairly certain that was not something they usually did, so he thanked Tracker for helping him out so much. He'd just laughed and told him to not worry about it. He'd also waited with Felix until the train came, and waited until he could see Felix sitting on his seat though the window. Felix had seen him waving as the train pulled away from the station.

That was condensing the entire affair quite a lot; it had involved a lot of instances of Felix needing to take a few minutes to calm down. He'd taken deep breaths, counted to ten, paced around on the station —he'd even brought a bunch of dried jerky treats which he chewed on and ripped apart as he waited. Tracker had seemed interested in what it was he was eating, but didn't ask. Which was good, because Felix wasn't sure how to tell him it was technically dog treats —oh, they were still edible by others. Just that the dried meat wasn't salted and with spices like the jerky griffons made and ate a lot of. But still, even if it wasn't dog treats, most ponies found meat a bit iffy, so the whole thing would be a bit awkward to explain.

Though, speaking of the jerky… Felix reached over to the seat beside him, opened his bag and pulled out the packet. The jerky was hard and didn't taste that much, but something about the action of tearing it apart and trying to chew it was soothing. He wasn't supposed to eat too much, or his digestion would be really mad at him, so he just swallowed a bit of it and actually spat out the rest. Just tasting, tearing and chewing was enough.

While he was chewing, he pulled out his papers and went over the rest of the trip again. On the train, he didn't have much to do aside from waiting until it reached Manehattan. There would probably come someone with a trolley by a few times before then though, asking if he wanted to buy any snacks or food. They'd already been by twice already -Felix had actually bought a cup of tea from them the second time- and according to his notes, they usually came by three to five times on a trip this long.

He carefully returned the papers to their pocket, and leaned back in his seat to continue with trying to daydream while staring out the window. He found it hard; instead he worried about how meeting with Moony again would go.

——-

Once he arrived in Manehattan, he stumbled off of the train on legs that felt like jelly. After double checking that, yes, the giant sign on the wall did say Manhattan and that he had all his bags with him, he made a beeline for the stairs. It said he was on platform eleven -just as Tracker said he would be unless they had to move to another one- which meant the payphones should be just up the stairs and on the other side of the giant entrance hall.

They were, and he put in some bits, asking the operator to call Moony's apartment building. Unfortunately, it was one of her neighbours who answered, and Felix had to stammer for a bit before managing to ask if Moonstone was there. She wasn't -slight panic gripped Felix' heart- but she did usually come home about now so she would probably be there any minute.

Felix thought about waiting and calling again in a little while; but decided that he really wanted away from the giant room with the huge crowd of people stomping around, yelling at each other, and smelling like… a crowd of ponies who had traveled a long way.

So he instead put in more bits, and asked the operator to call a taxi-company. That was one thing Tracker had made quite clear; if he was completely new to the city, the absolute easiest and safest way to get around was via a taxi carrier. It was expensive, but Felix had savings.
So he called, ordered a taxi, and went outside to wait. There were some taxis already outside, picking up passengers and their bags, but Felix didn't try to hail one. He could wait for the one she ordered, rather than trying to clamor over other ponies to get a free one.

He was a bit worried over how he'd find which one was his, but Tracker had told him to just look for the ones with a "Booked" sign. If they were his, they would have a sign on their neck with his name on it; at least, this company did last time Tracker traveled with them.

It did work that way now too, and after some nerve wracking moments of trying to speak to the pony pulling the carriage, getting his bags into place and almost forgetting to strap himself in -the company didn’t want passengers trying to stand up and fly off as the cab took a sharp turn- he was off.

At first, he didn’t see much of the city, too focused on calming down. But then he managed to look.

It was interesting, he supposed, trying to find something positive to think about. It was loud and smelly and too full of ponies… but also full of interesting-looking buildings, different creatures, and artificial lights everywhere. They passed buildings taller than even the castle, parks full of creatures walking and playing, and stores with bright displays of everything he could imagine. He took it all in, wide eyed.

Eventually, as he looked at the buildings rushing past, he recognized that they were no longer offices and fancy stores, but apartment buildings and small corner shops. Soon, he realised. He’d— he’d arrive soon. He’d see her soon.

They stopped.

Feeling slightly sick, he forgot to thank the pony pulling the cart. The pony didn’t seem to mind, just grabbing the bits -including an accidentally large tip due to Felix pulling out the wrong amount in his haste- and rushed off down the road.

He walked up to the door, reading the number. Yes, this should be the right one. He saw the names posted beside the door, and found Moony’s one; actually, ‘Moonlight’s one, since Moony had decided to use an alias for the front door so she wasn’t as easy to find.

So soon now.

He licked his lips and punched the code for her apartment.

And waited. She’d come down any minute now to open for him.

He waited some more.

She was supposed to be here. That was the number she’d told him, that was her fake name on the list. And she knew he’d be coming; Spike had sent her a letter.

Maybe it was broken?

He was just starting to consider consulting his notes on what to do if she wasn’t home, when someone else arrived behind him.

The pony didn’t look much at him; they appeared to be almost asleep on their hooves. They just shuffled around him, put a key in the front door -after two misses- and went inside. Felix only hesitated for a split second, before stopping the door from closing and slipping in behind them. The pony didn’t notice, just dragging themselves up the stairs.

Felix followed behind them. One level, two levels -here the pony veered off into a corridor of closed doors- three levels, and—

Top floor. This should be it.

The doors were identical, but with names written on their mail-slots. He slowly traced each with his eyes, until he reached the one at the end. Twilight Moonstone, apartment D12.

He knocked.

…

Maybe she hadn’t heard him.

He knocked again, harder.

Still nothing. He pressed an ear to the door, trying to hear if anyone was moving in there. Was she asleep?

He didn’t hear anything at all.

Okay, he had to calm down. His breathing was starting to become erratic again, and he couldn’t panic right now. Get the notes, just do what the notes say.

He had just put his bags down, when he faintly heard the front door slam open far below. The sounds of hooves came rushing up the stairs, growing stronger and stronger as the owner
ran their way up. When they reached his floor, they skidded across the tiled floor on the top of the stairs and made the pony crash into the wall. They pulled themselves up, and turned to look at him from across the corridor.

Moony looked awful. She was dirty and her mane was slicked against her head from sweat. Her breathing came in shallow sharp inhales and she even had streaks of froth along her sides and legs.

"Sorry!" She gasped. "Forgot purse" Gasp. "Couldn't get a cab" Gasp. "So I ran."

She threw her head back and gulped down a huge breath of air, before starting to slowly shuffle towards where he was standing.

It hit him just how long it’d been since he’d last seen her. She looked different. Tired, and not just in the way a pony does when they’d run across Manehattan. But her shoulders hunched, her eyes had bags under them and her spine dipped in the center. She’d also gained some chub while losing some of the muscle definition being trained by Captain Tempest had given her. The only thing which hadn’t changed a thing, was her mane-style; still perfectly straight bangs with curly strands framing her face.

Stars, Felix suddenly remembered how beautiful she was.

Not that he’d forgotten, per se. He’d always loved her of course; but he’d just started to think about people being attractive for about a year …and then she’d left. He’d spent so much time missing her friendship, that he’d had no thought of anything else.

And now it all hit him full force. She was here, in front of him. Her face, moving and not the still of an image, her voice, real and not thin from being passed through wires.

She reached his shock still figure, and threw her hooves around him. He instinctively hugged her back, his claws forming fists to avoid digging into her back. She was wet and smelled of sweat and concrete. He buried his face into her mane, as he felt her do the same to him.

He wasn’t sure what he was feeling; love, embarrassment, relief, sadness, happiness —it all blended together in his chest until it had to go somewhere or explode. He felt his face and ears heat up, as tears sprung from his eyes. He sobbed into her mane, not caring that he got tears in it; it was already wet.

“I’m so glad you’re here!” Moony finally said, and he realised her voice sounded just as wobbly as his emotions felt. “I can’t wait, I have so much to— oh, this is going to be great!”

Feeling like he’d been doused with a bucket of cold water, he remembered that Moony had o idea why he was there. She thought he just came to have fun.

He suddenly really didn’t want to tell her. Couldn’t he just… have fun for a few days? Just for a little while, have things they way they used to be between them? Before he ruined everything…?

Felix gritted his teeth. No. He couldn’t do that to her. Even if it’d hurt, she deserved to know.

He had to let her down now.

“I’m not here because-” he started, but faltered. “I mean, I’m not just here because- There’s something we need to talk about.”

Moony pulled away, giving him a look of confusion mixed with worry. “…Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes, it’s not—” He pulled away completely. “Okay, so it’s not good. But it’s not anything urgently bad?”

Moony took a step back, but nodded carefully. Great, now he’d scared her.

“…Alright.” She finally agreed. “But if it’s not urgent, can we take it after we’ve gone inside?”

He realised that they were still standing in the corridor, with her dripping with sweat and him feeling like crap from traveling and not eating for a while.

“Oh. Yeah.”

He followed behind her as she pulled out her key to open the door. He’d settle in a little and let her take a shower and make them both have something to eat —but then he had to tell her.


No stalling now, Felix. This will hurt both of you, but you have to do it.



She deserves to know.