City of Vices

by A Pony Typewriter

Trail of Stars

Trail of Stars

The Florida sun was no longer above them. The structure they were in was enormous, clearly a sign of wealth Rainbow Dash interpreted. She turned her head in every direction, examining the estate, while Pinkie bounced merrily beside her and Applejack lay on her back mumbling incoherent sentences.

Tommy had sent Avery home, telling him he would continue their business discussion sometime in the future, Avery gladly agreed, leaving Tommy with three ponies, one drunk, one sober, another on cocaine induced bouncing. Wasting no time at all, Kent, Ken, Vincent, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie and a drunken Applejack followed the man in blue up another large staircase towards a door at the top of the steps.

Twilight jumped as the black doors bang, revealing creatures she had never seen or read before, one had clothing that were mainly hued in blue. Startled, Twilight let go of some of the papers she had been examining. The creature stared up to her, she slowly descended from the air and touched the floor. Even after landing, the creature in blue clothing kept eye contact, making her feel uneasy.

Tommy spoke, "I'm going to ask you questions and you are going to give the answers."

"Hey-ey that's no way to talk to yer mot...*hic*"

Twilight peeked over the creature she was facing, beside three other being like the one in blue were her friends. She dashed towards them and enveloped them in a group hug. Tears began to forming on the purple pony's eyes, "I-I- thought you girls were gone."

"Of course were not gone Twilight were here !" Pinkie cheerfully reassured.

Rainbow Dash asked, "Whaddya mean gone Twi ?"

"Ah' love you to ma."

"The...*sniff*...carriages..." Twilight said between sniffs.

Looking at the hugging equines cherishing their reunion, Kent asked Rosenberg, "Is there anymore booze 'round here."

"The mini bar in the living room, first door on the left bring up some shot glasses up here while you're at it," said the lawyer.

The band manager turned his back on the hugging ponies and went downstairs to fetch more liquor. They were still hugging each other, Twilight was still sobbing but glad to see her friends well and alive, being left out from the hug was Applejack. Rainbow Dash had numerous questions in my mind, but decide to kept her mouth sealed for the time being. Tommy had a different idea, he wanted answers.

Without saying anything he created silence, with silence the hugging stopped. Twilight turned to the man in blue, with a very serious expression etched on his face. She faced him, thinking hard what the strange creature wanted.

"Oh right questions..." she reminded herself.

*** *** ***

Kent made it to the mini bar without any incident, despite being buzzed from the Scotch he consumed on his way to the estate. He browsed the selection of wines, whiskies, and champagnes of the mini bar. There weren't a lot to choose from, then he settled on the same thing he took not long ago, Scotch.

Putting the bottle and three glasses in a tray along with a bucket of ice, he began his journey back upstairs. Before he did, the phone rang. With no one around to answer he picked it up.

"Hello ?"

An elderly voice said, "Is Mr. Tommy home ?"

"Yeah, sure he's home what 'bout it ?" Kent asked.

"I need to speak to him right now !" the voice on the phone demanded.

"Hold, I'll go get 'em for ya," said Kent.

"There's no time ! Just get Mr. Vercetti on the phone !"

Deciding it wasn't his problem what the man on the other side of the phone business' with Tommy, the band manager replied, "Alright, alright."

Leaving the liquor, he went back upstairs dry but with a phone in hand. Kent gradually climbed back up the carpeted stairs, he entered when the purple one was talking to Tommy. His arrival abruptly halted the conversation, everyone turned their heads to Kent, except Applejack and Pinkie Pie.

Directed at Tommy, Kent said, "Someone wants with speak to you."

The man in blue Hawaiian shirt took the phone and answered, "Vercetti here."

The rest were left out of the conversation between Tommy and whoever was on the other side of the phone. But as it was clear that Tommy was somewhat trying to calm down the caller, repeatedly the man in blue asked for clarification. During the span of the call, Tommy mentioned, 'men in black carrying guns', 'vehicle parked outside', and 'they're here not for the money' for everyone to hear.

Tommy asked whether they were federal agents, the caller said, "No, they have no badges, but they asked me if I have seen a unicorn."

Upon hearing the last word Tommy paused, staring at the ponies. He returned to the phone to end the conversation and promised he'll be there soon. A beep marked the termination of the call. Tommy stood and grabbed a pistol from his desk. He then continued to put on a bullet-proof vest.

Seeing the man in blue was putting on some kind of clothing Twilight asked, "What are you doing ?"

"I'm going to my movie studio," he said.

In astonishment, Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "Wow you got your own movie studio ?!"

"Yes, and I have no doubt that I'm going to find another unicorn there."

Baffled the pegasus asked, "Another unicorn ?"

In realization, both Twilight and Rainbow Dash shouted, "Rarity !"

"So you know it, good, if anything happens I'm going to compensate you for damages." said the man in blue.

"Rarity ?! Where ?" asked Pinkie, still bouncing thanks to cocaine.

Twilight asked, "Can we come, I mean to make sure if she's alright."

"Sure, no one's stopping you," he continued, "but I'm not sure about two of your friends there."

Twilight looked at her said two friends which were Applejack and Pinkie. From where she was standing, Applejack was still surrounded with the strong odor of alcohol, and seemed to lose the ability to stand straight for the moment. Pinkie, she deduced the pink mare was being herself. She asked Tommy if Applejack can stay here, he said no. Twilight asked if there is any place where her orange friend could stay. Tommy told her, she could stay either in his apartment in front of the North Point Mall or the one across of Rosenberg's office.

"Ken take the orange one..."

Rainbow Dash corrected, "Applejack, it's Applejack."

"Ken take Applejack to one of 'em, " he threw the keys to the lawyer, "wait 'till I call you."

*** *** ***

The white Oceanic exited the mansion premises and headed west. After leaving behind Starfish Island, it made a right heading towards Downtown Vice City. It was the first time Twilight saw this strange new world, besides the ocean view from Tommy's office. As they travel, she took in her surrounding, on her left were concrete buildings similar to those in Manehattan, and on her left was the sparkling blue water that surrounds Vice City.

Reaching Downtown Vice City, the road became narrower, but the range of things to see became wider, only Rainbow and Twilight who observed them, while Pinkie kept bouncing. On pavement, Tommy's kind walk, run and roller-blade, all of them were wrapped in clothing, some light, some bright and some utterly ridiculous. Their mane weren't colorful compare to Rainbow and Twilight's, instead they were fashioned in a variety of ways, mostly to look big and puffy.

While the ponies were distracted by Vice City, Tommy recollected his conversation. The conclusion was baffling, he was now accompanied by technically four aliens who lived in a monarch, where friendship is held up high, and magic is a common practice among them, along with two define beings controlling the night and day. He shared this to Vincenzo during the drive, he also had a hard time taking it in.

Crossing the bridge from Downtown Vice City to Prawn Island, he was flagged down by a man in blue floral shirt. Coming to a full stop on the middle of the bridge he asked the man who had stopped him, "What's going on ?"

"Don't know boss, security told us there were a bunch of black vans went through the gate," said the man.

"What else did they told you and what're you doing here ?" Tommy questioned him.

The man explained, "They told me a bunch of guys got out of the vans with guns, big guns, and we're keeping eye on them from here."

"Alright keep doing what you're doing," Tommy continued to drive into Prawn Island.

As he about to make the turn to his Studio's front gate, he found both lane were blocked by cars. Another man flagged the car to stop, a once crouching man stood up and ran to Tommy's car while keeping his back bent. What he told was basically the same to what the previous employee did, the man went back to crouch behind one of the cars that were blocking the road, gun unholstered. The aging automobile was put on park besides the studio's wall, away from the gate.

The entrepreneur in blue inserted a clip to a pistol, he handed the said pistol to his employee on the front passenger seat, and load a revolver. Twilight, Rainbow and even Pinkie paused to look what the strange being was doing. Twilight took a mental note about the strange object Tommy was holding with his appendages, silvery in design with a small wooden part that let Tommy's scale-less claws grip it. She wanted to ask about it, but before she got chance the entrepreneur in blue already opened the door and exited the vehicle.

He gave an order, "Stay put."

The purple and blue one nodded, Pinkie replied, "Yesssss sir!"

Tommy and Vincenzo joined the security force of the studio. Behind the cars they were briefed about the situation.

"Anyway we can get in ?" Tommy asked.

The chief of security told him, "From the front ? No. From the back maybe," he continued, "but we'll need a boat to do that."

"How about the side gate ?" the man in blue questioned.

"There's a van there..." said the chief.

Their discussion was cut short due to a woman's scream. Several men, all covered in black clothing ran from the gate and headed towards a black van parked right in front of it. The security chief shouted a warning with his pistol aimed at the group of men. They replied the warning with a hail of lead. In an instant the chief went down, in an instant Tommy stood from the cover of the cars and fired.

BLAM BLAM

A bullet struck one of them and the figure in black went down, but not dead, only struggling to stop the bleeding. The figure holding a white, four legged being covered with a black bag upon its front portion, which was emitting a whine, entered the van under cover fire of his comrades. Another threw two bags into the said vehicle. A different black van drove out of the studio, spraying bullets towards the security guards and Tommy. The entrepreneur on blue emptied his revolver, this done nothing as one of the van plow through the blockade. As a second van drove by he caught a glimpse of a creature he was familiar with.

Tommy ran back to where the car was parked and so does Vincenzo. Tommy started the engine and went after the vans.

"What's happening ?!" asked a panicky Twilight.

Pinkie said, "Sound like somepony playing with fire crackers !"

Tommy didn't answered, instead he changed gear and the old car lurched forward, faster. Looking onto the rear view mirror he found the group from the bridge had caught up with him, along with another car filled with security guards. The car with Tommy's men from the bridge overtook him, it moved to the right lane and smashed the van in front of Tommy. It wasn't long before the van was punctured leaving tiny holes and came to a stop short after. Unlike the previous, the van in the middle of the convoy opened it's back door, and start shooting.

"GET DOWN !" Tommy shouted.

The windshield was blurred with cracks as bullets impact without mercy. Tommy started kicking the broken windshield and with the guard's help, it was out of the way in moments. The shooting stopped, he saw the men in the back of the gun was busy, one was putting another magazine, another was tending to his gun. Tommy raised his gun.

CLICK CLICK CLICK

He grabbed Vincenzo's gun. Seven shots later the men in the back dropped, but the van was still moving. The white creature that they had captured loses the piece of cloth and stood at the back of the van for everyone who had followed the van to see.

"RARITY !" Twilight shouted.

"Oh Hi Rarity !"

The remaining vans made a few turn before they were in another straight road, one that headed back towards the west side of town. With the revolver loaded again, thanks to Vincenzo, the entrepreneur in blue raised it once more.

BLAM

The bullet found home in the driver's head, kicking out brain matter into the van's inner windshield. With no one at the wheel, the van loses control and smashed into another car, before coming to a halt at the edge of the side of the bridge.