//------------------------------// // Chapter 18: Which Way is Home? // Story: Ponies Meet New York // by Caddy Finz //------------------------------// "Hang on, we're almost there!" Vincent said as he drove the girls and I towards Central Park in a stolen truck. It was finally almost over. The Princesses were here to bring the girls back and I could finally move in with Vincent so I can make up for lost time. Oh shit, I never told the girls I was planning on doing that. This will be one of the harder things I've had to do but Vincent is my flesh and blood. My friends from Equestria will understand. Who knows? Maybe we'll find a way to stabilize the portal so it works on command. Thinking realistically thou-" "C'mon, outta the way!" Vincent shouted at pedestrians in the park as he laid on the horn. "There they are!" Twilight exclaimed from the back. "Celestia, Luna, and Cadence! They're just ahead!" "Vincent, buddy, thanks fer all yer help." Applejack said. "But do ya think ya might wanna be a little more subtle? Yer drawin' a heap of attention on us." "I think it's a little late for that now." Vincent replied as he glanced at a side view mirror. "We've got somebody really important behind us and it looks like they wanna know what's going on." Just as we got close enough, Vincent stopped the truck and went to the back to let the girls out. All the while, I was still strapped into the front passenger seat to see a black limousine pass by and park even closer. The crowd around us was massive and everyone had a camera or cell phone that they were taking as many pictures of the princesses as they could. I remember when I first saw them too. It's not often that you see such majestic and mythical creatures that really until then you didn't think even existed. Just the sight alone of a beautiful alicorn is enough to just give you this indescribable feeling of happiness. Maybe even a little bit of hope too. Finally, the girls were all out of the truck trotting towards the fountain and the princesses as fast as their tired, weary legs could take them. In the past few days, they've been through so much. We all have, even me. Well, especially me. Getting tossed into a ghetto in New York, finding out that I had a son, dodging cops, fighting a psychopath and then getting tortured by him. Yeah, I'd say that's quite the eventful week. As Vincent carried my broken body over to where the princesses were standing, I had to double take at what I saw over there. I couldn't believe my eyes, it was the city's head honcho himself who was riding in that limo. Shaking hooves with the princesses one by one was none other than New York City's Mayor, Bill de Blasio. It looks like he wanted to see them up close and get to know them a bit. There had to have been a couple hundred police officers keeping the crowd back and the chief of the NYPD was next in line to get a hoofshake. The senior officer with a very decorated uniform was just extending his hand when he turned to look at the girls trotting towards them and Vincent just behind them. Out of curiosity, the Mayor and the three princesses all turned to look over and all their eyes were soon glued on to me. Every one of them looked as if they had never seen anything so horrible in their entire lives. "Vincent?" I said. "I need you to put me down. I gotta talk to the princesses." As Vincent gently placed me on the ground, the crowd went completely silent and the pain I was going through was a clear reminder of why. As I struggled to stay on my hooves, Twilight and Pinkie each came to my side to help me along. I was intending on trotting over to the princesses to discuss my plans to stay here but they all rushed over to meet me halfway. The mayor, the police chief and a guy in a highly decorated animal control uniform followed suit. "Who did this to this pony?" The mayor asked. "One of your guys did this!" Vincent yelled as he pointed a finger at the head of the animal control department. "Some nutcase who calls himself the Dark Star!" "Oh my God!" The animal control captain cried out. "We wanted him to just catch the ponies, not mangle them! Where is he!?" "Last I saw him, he was in some warehouse in The Bronx with his face caved in. He deserved every single blow." "Mister Mayor..." Princess Celestia said. "Is this typical? Do your people often treat other living creatures like this?" "S-sadly it is..." The mayor replied as he tried to stifle tears. "The violence is my City has become the every day norm and it makes me sick to my stomach. Rest assured though, the man who did this to your subject will face justice!" "Let's worry about that later." I interjected. "I'm just glad that the princesses are here and you all finally get to go home." "Whatcha mean 'y'all can go home', Vinnie?" Applejack asked. "Ain't ya coming with us?" It looked to me like they all sort of saw it coming. The girls all looked at me expectantly and waited for me to explain what I meant by what I said. The six girls, even Cadence and Shining Armor who was still back in Equestria have been my best friends over the past three years. Leaving them behind wasn't ever what I wanted to do but Vincent said he wouldn't be happy in Equestria. My choice was clear. "I'm not." I replied as tears streamed down my face. "Vincent, head back to the apartment, okay? I'll meet you there. I just need to say goodbye to my friends." "Girls, it's been good." Vincent said as he started to walk away. "You take care, alright?" "I hope you all understand. You know Vincent's got some serious problems and now that I know he's my son, I need to be there for him. He's depressed, suicidal, and he's the worst alcoholic I've ever seen. I need to stay here and take care of him or he could kill himself. If he doesn't jump off a building, his liver will quit on him and I'm not gonna let that happen." "W-we und-*sniff* we understand, Vinnie." Pinkie said. "Vincenzo, just know that we will never forget you or all the things you've done for us." Rarity said. "Hey, it's not the end." I said. "Maybe we'll figure this fountain out and come visit sometime." "Either way, it's going to be a long time before we see you again." Twilight said. "But you're doing the right thing by being there for your son. He really does need you and to stay behind to do your job as a father...I can't think of anything more noble." "I love you all! Don't ever forget that! Princess Celestia? Before I leave, I have just one last request." "Anything, Vinnie." Celestia replied as she gave me one last hug. "Name it." "If you can, I need you to turn m...Oh shit!" My sudden outburst of cursing caught everyone around us off guard but what got me was the man with blood all over his face who stood about fifty yards away. The Dark Star had come back for one final attempt to take me down. This time however, he wasn't looking for my information leading to the portal to make him rich. He was armed with a rifle and was out for blood. After having to deal with him torturing me the way he did, I was too scared to move or even say anything but broken gibberish as I tried to point at him. The people in the crowd were too busy gushing over how magnificent the princesses and the rest of the ponies were. I could almost feel the cross hairs of the scope burning me between the eyes. There was however one very large problem that may not have occurred to him though. The mayor was standing five feet away from me. Pow! I winced as I heard a shot come from the direction where the Dark Star was standing. Either he wasn't aiming for me or he had missed as I knew I was still alive and had no new holes in me. I looked around a bit more to see that the princesses and the mayor were unharmed. I then found out what happened when I looked back over at our attacker. All the color in his face quickly drained away he lowered the rifle still holding it in his right hand and stared back at me through a newly acquired hole in his left. "Jesus fuuuck!" The Dark Star screamed as he continued to stare at the hole that was blown clean through his hand. "Snipeeerrr!" A police officer shouted as he and nearly a dozen others tackled him to the ground. "Get the mayor outta here!" The police chief shouted. As quick as Rainbow Dash rushing to visit Applejack's brother after a stressful day, about six or seven cops swarmed around Mayor de Blasio and rushed him back to the limo where they shoved him in before it tore off just as fast. The crowd finally noticed the commotion and everyone fell to the ground and covered their heads. After a brief moment, thing quickly calmed down and everyone started to get back up. That's when I realized what had just happened. Vincent was casually strolling away from the scene and I saw him toss the stolen Glock pistol over his shoulder before he turned around to toss in his last two bits. "Look on the bright side!" Vincent shouted over as the police proceeded to cuff and beat the Dark Star. "That's another hole you can use to make friends with your fellow inmates." Now our ordeal was finally, at long last over. I had said my last goodbyes to my friends and given them all my last hugs. I heard talk that city officials were planning on building a security fence around the portal fountain and assigning officers to guard it twenty-four seven to prevent any lunatics from doing what the crazy bastard Dark Star was going to. The portal leads to Equestria but it's still unstable and unsafe to use without first finding some way to harness its power and channel it to work on command. The princesses were able to make it work but even they found it difficult. My only regret is that I couldn't say goodbye to my other friends back in Equestria but I did what I had to do. The idea of never seeing the girls or the others again really pains me to think about and I'll miss them to no end. The girls and even Cadence were like the daughters I never had and I even got pretty close to Celestia and Luna during my time there. I'll miss them and everything about them. There was just this "motherly" way Celestia had about her and in a way reminded me of my mother and how she would have done anything for me. I can't be tormenting myself with those thoughts. The friendships I had in that beautiful, magnificent world were the best blessing I could have ever asked for. Now, I need to attend to another precious blessing. I sent Vincent back home to his apartment in Brooklyn where I would soon join him. I was brought over to the building by taxi and since the princesses had patched up my wounds for me, I could easily make my way back up the stairs. After climbing a couple floors, I reached Vincent's apartment, placed my hand around the door handle and walked in on two legs. All six foot four of me. There was my son Vincent standing at his kitchen sink staring wistfully at a bottle of vodka before breaking down in tears and proceeding to pour the contents down the drain. That was actually a good sign. Vincent desperately needs to quit drinking and he just showed that he has the determination to do so. With me by his side, he'll do just fine and I intend on staying there every step of the way. "Son?" I said, prompting Vincent to look over at my familiar face. "Whoa." Vincent said. "Uh, hang on a sec." Vincent then proceeded to reach into his back pocket where he pulled out and unfolded his wallet. After opening his wallet up he pulled out of that the picture that got me so worked up the other night. He then held the picture of me and his mother in front of him to make the obvious comparison. "Wow, man." Vincent said. "You weren't kidding, huh?" "Of course not." I replied. "That's not something that anyone with a heart kids someone about. Now, Vincent, let's have a seat in the living room. Let's talk, okay?" "O-okay." Vincent then sat down on the reclining chair in the living room and I then took a seat on the sofa in front of him. "Son, I want you to listen to me very carefully. Even though we've only known each other for a few days, I just feel this connection with you that only a father and son could have. I really don't know how to explain it but it's like...these parental instincts I developed towards the girls. Catch my drift?" "Yeah." Vincent replied. "I think I get it." "Good. Now, I don't know if you feel the same way about me but either way I'm gonna be around a lot. I'm going to do what ever I can to give you the father and son relationship that you deserve and have been missing all these years. Remember what I said. I already let you and your mother down before and that will never happen again." "Hey, it's all good. I'm not worried about it, I'm just glad to actually get to know my dad." "I couldn't have said it better myself. Well, lastly and most importantly...we have a lot of work to do to help you get better. Vincent, buddy...you're so fuckin' sick. If you keep drinking, you'll poison yourself and die. I've failed at so many things in life but taking care of you is my number one priority while I'm here. I'll tell you what we're gonna do." "What's that?" "We'll get outta here and get a better place than this. We could get a luxury apartment over in Manhattan! I'll pay for every therapy session for you and we can both live together and be a family! Doesn't that sound great?" "Yeah but how are you gonna get the money for that?" "Did I ever tell you what Equestrian currency is?" "I don't think so." "Pure gold coins about the size of a nickel. I had a ton of them in my bank account in Ponyville. I withdrew as many as I could fit in my pockets. We're rich, I'm telling you! Everything's gonna be just fine, son!" "This all just happened so fast. I mean, a few days ago I was thinking of killing myself but now I feel better than I have in years." "That's the spirit! Here, we can start out this new chapter in life by dumping out all this booze. Do you really need all that shit?" "Hell no!" "Then let's get to it!" Vincent and I began to open up each and every bottle of liquor he had in his apartment and proceeded to dump it all down the drain of his kitchen sink. As we continued to get rid of the poison that ruined Vincent's life, I could tell something new was on his mind. He just had that look about him, it told me that he was a bit worried. Then again, being as dependent on alcohol as he is, this is going to be a long, bumpy road to recovery. It's not going to be entirely pleasant but it's necessary. Still though, I just felt compelled to ask. "What's on your mind?" I asked. "Remember the other night when I had withdrawal problems?" "I know, son, I know. Did I ever tell you about when I quit smoking though?" "No, I don't think you did. How'd you do that?" "Well, I had a little help with that. When I first got to Equestria, I had to make a pack last me a whole week. Twilight being the super science nerd she is wanted to figure out why I was so hooked on cigarettes. Well, it didn't take her long to find out how harmful they were. On the day that was supposed to be my last day there, she gave me a nice little parting gift." "What's that?" "She came up with a magic spell that she used on me and just like that, I never wanted to smoke again." "Whoa, back up! She just cured your addiction with magic!?" "Yeah." "No shit. That's pretty cool. So...you really love the girls don't you? Tell me more about that, will you?" "They're like daughters to me, Vincent. I love them and everything about them. They're the type of kind souls that will go out of their way to make everyone around them happy. Always thinking about others. That's why I'm going to miss them so much." "When are they leaving?" "The princesses and the mayor went somewhere a bit safer and more quiet to talk for a while. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were trying to establish some kinda diplomatic alliance. I think they'll be going home any minute now though." "Do you think we'd have enough time to catch up with them and join them?" "I dunno. Why do you ask?" "Because, Dad, I've been doing some thinking sinc-" "What did you just call me?" "Whoa. I just called you 'Dad'. But hey, you know what? I like your friends. They seem really sweet and aside from you, I don't have any. That and after all you've done for me and say you're gonna do for me, I'd feel like an asshole if I made you leave them behind." "Vincent...are you saying..." "We'd better hurry before the portal closes." "Oh my God, Vincent, I swear you will not regret this!"