Spindle: I was gazing at the skies overnight through our room’s window. Two things were obvious: it’s light-polluted and it’s cloudy. All the colours used could be counted on two hooves.
 
For me this is a little saddening, since windigos use the stars as navigation on long-distance voyages, much like sailors and migratory animals. One of the reasons I accepted Parcly as a friend was her love of astronomy and astrophysics, a love she keeps strong through regular visits to the Purple Space Observatory she commissioned at the summit of Canterlot’s mountain. With light pollution this bad or clouds this thick, we have to ascend to the stratosphere for good views of the celestial sphere, which takes a small but significant portion of our time and energy.
 
Parcly Taxel: In my hometown of Canterlot, Luna wishes me every sunset to clear its clouds, unless the weather forecast calls for rain or thunderstorms. When she raises the night, constellations and galaxies then stand in their clearest from a suitable viewpoint. I consider my cloud-sweeping a royal duty, even though I’m not wishbound.
 
In contrast, the ruler of China proper – a serpentine dragon around one kilometre long – is responsible for breathing out every cloud that rolls over the land. Given the vast expanse of his domain and centralised authority, it is almost inevitable that clouds will cross into Hong Kong, and the local population doesn’t care about it for the most part.
 
Spindle: How did my leadoff passage go?
 
Parcly: You did great! Right, what was for breakfast?
 
Spindle: Once again, we went to the Chrisly Café for that. Because it was a Monday, there were zero ponies waiting outside and we got our reservation in a minute. Conversely, along the way we saw more taxis shuttling passengers to work and neat lines at branches of the principal banks – the financial sector prioritised on weekdays and the retail sector on weekends, a key rhythm in the city. In the mood for something other than macaroni and ham, we ordered the full monty of corn, baked beans, egg and hashbrown with toast and bacon. She was definitely fuller than last time and grinning to the ends of her face, so I had a flurry of emotions to feed on.
 
Rarity: Do you know how mad Hong Kong is on jewellery? Have you talked about it yet?
 
Parcly: No? I know there’s Lukfook and Chow Tai Fook in many places, in addition to a host of smaller shops scattered like confetti, but I must say that I’m not a fashionista genie. I prefer to dress simply, just a horn ring everywhere and the extra ornaments in Saddle Arabia.
 
Resting for a while in Langham Place, I saw how it and fellow shopping centres were flooded with shoppers (some of them in school uniforms, I hasten to add) within minutes of opening their doors, contrasting with the street markets which generally received few visitors per stall until an hour had elapsed. At this latter location I found a few feng shui charts too, one of which read
 
雞 → 犯太歲  
狗 → 害太歲  
豬 → 平  
鼠 → 破太歲  
牛 → 平  
虎 → 平  
兔 → 冲太歲  
龍 → 吉  
蛇 → 吉  
馬 → 平  
羊 → 吉  
猴 → 平
 
Spindle: So that means those born in the years of the rooster, dog, rat and rabbit are in conflict with Tai Sui (太歲) and would need to take remedies? Oh wait, you’re a tiger, who has neutral fortune. Never mind.
 
Parcly: We had a look at another market in Yau Ma Tei that primarily sold fruits; the morning shift was over and two games of mahjong were underway. Some of the shorter buildings appeared to be made from bricks and mortar, indicating their extreme age.
 
Still, I was getting bored from walking through live animals, aquariums, meat in the open, seafood on crushed ice and jars of TCM herbs. I needed some relief from this equine traffic jam, so rode the train to Kowloon and the Elements plaza, both at the base of the tallest building in Hong Kong, the International Commerce Centre.
 
Princess Luna: Elements, as its name suggests, is divided into zones named after the Wu Xing (五行): water, wood, fire, earth and metal (水、木、火、土、金). Moving one place forward at a time gives the constructive cycle; two places gives the destructive cycle. If I had to associate them with the Elements of Harmony I’d pair them with Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack and Rarity respectively, and-
 
Parcly: Luna, I just have a penchant for very tall buildings. I was there only to enjoy the air conditioning and wide-open voids before moving on. It wasn’t that fun inside, I discovered.
 
Luna: Then where did you find more fun?
 
Parcly: Along the Island Line. At HKU I had char siew/goose rice for lunch, but that was a mere pit stop. One more station to the terminus of Kennedy Town, that’s where the real adventure started…
 
Spindle: Not only is the western tip of the Island undeveloped, it’s also unfrequented by tourists who might ruin the scenery. One long trek up a hill took us down the whole spectrum of infrastructure: private shops, public gardens, condominiums, temples up steps, landfills. Finally, near the top was an unassuming gate and stairs to the Sai Wan Swimming Shed, which we descended.
 
Before I reached the shore, the ocean breeze reached my body, caressing a hollow shell inside. Forested outlying islands and Kowloon were wonders in the distance, ferries gliding between them like graceful dolphins. There was a long wood-and-steel pier anchored on natural rocks, disappearing underwater at its end beneath the tides and broken waves. Around its beginning lay dense forest on a steep incline.
 
Parcly: Piers like these make for perfect backgrounds. A newlywed couple’s photoshoot was waiting for us to finish playing around, and we stood on a nearby slab watching its shutters fly for a while despite the afternoon sun bearing down. The amenities were primitive – a mounted wall clock was the only electric device I could see – but if it’s an escape from the city, why complicate things?
 
Spindle: Ascending the hill and descending the stairs on leisurely hoof was tiring enough for Parcly. Yet we had to go back the same way we came, and upon reaching our hotel room she let herself flow head-first into her bottle, exhausted of magic. She could not be released until the night came.
 
Parcly: In a lucky break, cloud cover had diminished to reveal the moon and a few twinkling stars. I only noticed because my MTR pass expired, forcing a walk to the same restaurant I ate at on the first night (One Dim Sum). I was there for an item that had sold out then, and I got my hooves on it this time: youtiao (油条 – deep-fried dough) in a flour roll. I looked closer at the buildings around me, trying to understand my attachments to them, as I returned to the Dorsett to sleep on my last full day in Hong Kong.