Felix’ day began by a mouse tickling him by walking over his cheek. He walked down for breakfast, and brightened as he realised today was eggs for a sandwich topping.

The mailbox was empty except for a bit of snow, so he just sighed and brushed it out. Moony had been writing to everyone less and less –he hoped it was just because finals were coming up. Once they were over, she’d surely go back to her normal pace. He hoped she’d also write when she was coming home over the holidays, so he could meet her at the train station.

His mood got better afterwards though; his mum didn’t have work this morning, so they worked together taking care of the animals. It was always fun to have someone to chat with as they cleaned and fed and groomed the ‘easier’ animals while his momma worked with the more specialized care needs.

Lunch was just as time consuming to prepare as always, but today he had mum helping him. She was also good for physically carrying Fluttershy inside to eat. Felix picked at his food as his mothers chatted; it was one of the more boring meals in the meal plan, but he knew he needed to eat all of it. So he forced himself to clean the plate, before handing it to Gilda for washing.

Then he was free again. Well, ‘free’ –he was supposed to be outside so long as the weather permitted, and to try to walk and get exercise. Today he at least had a bit of a goal; even though Moony wrote fewer and fewer letters, he still made sure to keep her updated on the going ons. So he fetched the letter he’d written and headed to the post office.

On the way he passed by the train station. It was mostly empty, as it always was at this time of day. He just glanced through a window as he passed though; Moony would be coming home soon anyway, so there was no point right now.

The post office was currently staffed by Ms. Doo, and Felix felt himself relax. She was a bit scatterbrained, but always kind and cheerful. They chatted for a little while, and Ms. Doo offered him a muffin –he regretfully had to say no, since they were chocolate– but then more customers arrived and he had to leave.

Once home again, he read comics for a while, ate dinner, and practised magic for a while. It was quite boring, but then he finally got to go to bed; tomorrow, he’d surely get a letter. Plus, each day brought the holidays, and thus, Moony’s visit, closer.

Hearth’s Warming Eve did not start, nor go, as most days did. Being both a holiday and his birthday, he could afford to indulge a bit and his breakfast was sweetened bread with honey, eggs and fruit.

Then he left home, waving to his moms on the way out. They were working despite the holidays; animals never stop needing care after all.

He threw himself into the cold air, and flew as fast as he could towards the castle. Twilight met him on a balcony, and greeted him warmly with a hug and a ‘happy birthday’.

The castle was mostly decorated, with just a few ponies still hanging up garlands and tinsel for the party that evening. Twilight thanked them as she and Felix hurried past them, heading to the ‘apartment’; the section of the castle the royal family lived in, where no staff worked or entered. Felix could hear Rarity’s voice before they even opened the apartment’s front door, as she was wailing dramatically over something.

That something turned out to be the telephone; Rarity had pulled her couch over to the wall so the cables of the mouth- and earpiece could reach her as she laid dramatically on it. She floated the mouthpiece in front of her –much too close considering her volume– while waving the earpiece around wildly. Felix wasn’t sure how she was expecting to hear the other side like that; but then again, maybe that was part of the point.

Once she saw them,she pouted a bit, but brought the earpiece closer so she could hear and actually finish her conversation. She reaffirmed them to the wall mount, and, finally, it was his turn to speak. He could have held them in his hand, but he preferred to be able to stand on all four and talk. He had to move the earmount a bit closer to be a comfortable distance to the mouthpiece, and…

Moony wished him a happy birthday. She apologised a lot for not coming in person, but she had to stay to monitor some experiments and her grade depended on them. He understood, but was still sad. She promised she’d make it up to him. He told her of what had happened in ponyville recently, and she described her latest classes. He missed her; she missed him too, and said they would have to figure out a way to meet sooner than her next break. She described how Manhattan glowed and twinkled from a thousand magical and mundane festive lights for the holidays, and he told her about the gifts he’d bought for his parents.

He wanted to tell her more, to go deeper than the casual smalltalk, but he was afraid. Afraid to come off as too needy, too scared and to guilt her. He also knew it was irrational, but he was afraid the operator was listening in; irrational, because they had way too many more calls to take care of –especially today– to have time to listen to him and Moony speak. And even if they did, they were by law supposed to keep this confidential –except for a few cases of illegal activity– and they would have to be morons to break it when royalty was speaking. Still, the worry was there, so he kept it to unimportant subjects.

Eventually, they had to stop; Moony had a few more things she needed to say to her parents and Spike, and long distance was so expensive they’d already talked a fortune today.

Twilight offered him lunch, but he declined and started to head home instead.

On the way, he passed by the train station. It was bursting with activity, as people tried to travel home last minute or go to Canterlot for the larger productions of the Hearth’s Warming Play or just waiting around for someone to arrive.

He should try to get a ticket, to visit Moony since she couldn’t come to them… But there were way too many people there. He’d try again once the holidays were over.

After lunch, his family went to the schoolhouse production of the Play, and Felix spent most of the time zoning out as foals read their lines directly from their script, forgot their cues, and accidentally dropped one of the dolls representing the evil winter spirits on the audience.

Dinner was very nice, with more honied bread and eggs, as well as some fish, fried potatoes and warm cider.

After the dinner, he was very happy that they chose to stay home and read books out loud to each other rather than going to the party in the castle; he’d had enough interactions for today. They also sang songs, made popcorn and just talked through the night.

Once the clock chimed midnight, they all went to bed.

Well, not entirely. Felix snuck up again, and went over to the pile of gifts. His one from Moonstone had arrived two days prior, and he carefully slid it out from under the rest of them.

He should wait until morning, but he felt so…

Inside were comics from people he’d never heard of before, snacks he assumed Moony had checked would be safe for him, and some records of both popular songs, unknown songs, and even records without labels kept in blank envelopes.

After checking that his parents were fast asleep, he carried the gramophone and his new records up to his room, and put it on as quiet as he could. He then popped on one of the blank records –and was startled to realise it was Moonstone singing. It was a very bad cover of one of the new popular songs he’d complained was always playing in stores nowadays.

After he finished listening to it in silence, he turned the gramophone off and went to sleep.

Felix life was in a routine again. He was woken up by a gopher, went down for breakfast, and checked if there was any new mail. There wasn’t.

Spring always meant new arrivals, so taking care of the animals consisted of a lot of baby ones, which was both very fun and cute, and very time consuming. Today he didn’t even have Mum helping, she had to work; spring also meant a lot of spring rain.

After lunch, he had a doctor’s appointment. It was just a routine checkup so he went through the motions, semi-daydreaming, until the doctor declared them done, told him when the next appointment was and that he’d send a letter if anything popped up they needed to deal with.

Then Felix decided to try and visit Kinyume again, hoping Disco would be home. He wasn’t, but Kinyume invited him in for tea, which was nice if a bit awkward. The only thing they really had in common was… animals, so that took up most of the conversation until he had to leave again –he could see her starting to glance at the clock, and figured she had something she needed to do.

On his way back, he passed by the train station.

He should buy a ticket.

The doors were big, with glass windows covering most of them, allowing him to see clearly inside. There was only one pony there, aside from the clerk, and they just seemed to be waiting for a train.

He didn’t have enough money on him. He would just have to come by another day.

Then he went straight home, and did his usual routine of reading comics until dinner, then practising magic for a while and reading before bed. His spells were still improving, slowly but surely. He even managed to just have the pencil float a few times, no other effects happening. As far as he could see at least.

He then went to bed, slipping into daydreams until real dreams claimed him.

He woke up, and ate breakfast.

There was mail today! He ripped the envelope open, and sat down to read the contents. They weren’t as long as he would have hoped, and didn’t contain at all what he’d wished for them too.

Moony wasn’t coming home over the summer. She’d gotten an internship, and she couldn’t pass it up. It was a once in a lifetime chance apparently. He was still welcome to visit her any time he wanted though, so long as he didn’t mind her being away for some hours during the middle of the day.

That was all.

He took care of the animals, threw together a lunch which he gulped down, and grabbed his purse. The air was warm and pleasant to fly through as he headed for the train station.

He was by a bit earlier than he usually was, so there were actually a few ponies inside. They waited for a train or talked to the clerk or waited to talk to a clerk.

The doors were big, but he pushed them open and stepped inside. A few ponies turned to look at him; you could see which ones were not ponyvillians due to how they took a second look once they realised just what he was not.

The room was big and smooth and echoed. Each little sound anyone made filling the entire space several times over. His claws made painfully loud ‘clicks’ as he padded across the floor. Each rustling of his wings spread out to reach even the most remote corner, each breath he took rattled the windows with their intensity. His heart beat wildly, and he could feel the floor rattling with each thump it took.

He meekly stood behind the person at the clerk’s desk, waiting for them to finish. He could feel the stares of the other ponies on his back, the way their eyes traced his mane and tail, how they lingered at his wings and horn, shied away from his claws and fangs.

His breath rattled.

The pony in front of him finished, and stepped away. It was his turn.

The desk was impossibly high, towering over him. He rose onto his hindlegs and stared at the clerk. The stallion smiled at him, and asked what he needed help with.

A ticket.

Where did we want to go? And when? Did he need a return ticket too? For when?

What seat did he want? Which class? Window or aisle? With a table or without? Did he know the luggage limitations for that class? Did he want to pre order lunch for the trip? Did he want to book further travel by carriage or other means while he was there? Did he–

He didn’t know. He hadn’t been by train by himself before, he didn’t, he didn’t know. He didn’t know. Carriage? Did he need that in Manehattan? He didn’t know. He didn’t know Manehattan, he didn’t know trains, he didn’t know how to travel, he didn’t know–

The clerk told Felix his name was Time Tracker, once he’d helped him outside and onto the grass to sit down. He was very kind; asking Felix if he needed to fetch someone or something, and just sitting there in silence when Felix said no.

Tracker almost came with to make sure Felix made it home safely when he finally felt well enough to go, but Felix told him it wasn’t necessary. He felt better, and surely the station needed to have someone working there. That was true, so Tracker let him go; but Felix saw him looking after him until he’d rounded a corner and disappeared out of sight.

At home, he made and ate dinner and went up to his room. He didn’t feel like worrying his moms by telling them what had happened, so he just gave non-answers when they asked how his day had been.

He didn’t feel like practising magic, and wasn’t sure what to write to Moony so he just went to bed and read books until he fell asleep.

Felix woke up with a grumble and ate breakfast while yawning.

There wasn’t any mail.

He then helped with the animals, alone this time. Time passed quickly while daydreaming, so it was fine.

Lunch was fine.

He went into town, and walked aimlessly around the park for a while. Early autumn meant the sun was still nice and warm in the middle fo the day, even if morning and evening held chilly winds.

At one point he passed the train station; he glanced at it, felt cold sweat break out, and turned around to walk away.

Once home again, he tried to read comics but fell asleep until dinner instead.

Dinner was okay; his moms kept asking what he’d done today, so he talked a lot about how warm and nice the park had been.

He tried to practise magic, but kept losing concentration and dropping things all the time so he gave up.

So he just read books instead, until it was time to go to bed.

Sleeping was hard –he probably shouldn’t have taken that nap– so he stared at the night sky instead. He’d known all the constellations by heart when he was a kid, but he’d forgotten a lot of them since then. That was okay; he just traced out new ones with his eyes, as he slipped in and out of different daydreams, not really settling on one. Eventually he fell asleep, his forehead and horn resting against the window.