Ponies Meet New York

by Caddy Finz

Chapter 11: That's Quite the Wake Up Call

It was only half past eleven in the morning when Vincent, the girls and I had a good long talk and we were to wake up early the next day to make the four hour drive from here to the city of Syracuse which sits right in the heart of Onondaga County. With a population of less than one hundred and fifty thousand, it's child's play compared to New York but still by no means a small city. By land mass, it's actually pretty big but its population isn't nearly as dense. I've actually been there plenty of times to do a hit or transport un-taxed cigarettes from the nearby reservation store all the while having no clue that it was where the woman who left me relocated to.

Thankfully, things calmed down here at Vincent's apartment. None of us had anything we had to do for the rest of the day either and laying low wasn't a bad idea. It was a breath of fresh air to actually take a day to catch a breather and relax. Aside from his quick temper that I was also guilty of at his age, Vincent was actually an alright guy to hang out with. Back when I lived around these parts, I used to play video games during my down time and it was great to finally get to show the girls what they were like. When he wasn't spending his money on booze and cigarettes, Vincent told me he was quite the avid collector.

Vincent had a cheap little tv set that Pinkie took great interest in and spent a lot of times giggling as she flipped though the channels and blew up cars in a Grand Theft Auto game. For the most part, we all just sat around and talked. Vincent got to spent some time getting to know my friends and I while he would talk about growing up in the North side of Syracuse. I was glad to hear it was that part of the city he lived in because the South side is pretty nasty and is where most of the city's homicides took place. Syracuse isn't ridiculously huge but it does have its fair share of crime.

Several hours went by and the evening finally approached. By now, the princesses have probably opened the portal but with the sanity and health of my new found son at stake, they would have to wait. There was no way for us to contact them to let them know we needed more time so we'd just have to do what we needed to do and hope for the best. Twilight, the poor kid hates having to just hope for things to work out. With her OCD, she'd rather know for sure what's about to happen but I digress.

One thing that I was particularly happy about is that the girls and I were able to convince Vincent not to get completely shit-faced tonight. We would rather he didn't drink at all due to his serious problem with alcohol but having two beers instead of twenty was a good step. One way or another though, I'll get him off the stuff. It's okay to get a good buzz once in a while at a party or something but when you get trashed every day, that's when one needs to realize that they're sick and get the help they need.

The trip tomorrow would just be Vincent and Myself taking Interstate eighty-one North all the way to Syracuse as per his request. He still wasn't fully convinced that I was legit and wanted to make sure he could find the truth without any interruptions. Still though, it seemed that he was opening up little by little. He said before that he had no friends to speak of and having been in his shoes myself, I can understand why he'd be as welcoming as he was when he calmed down. He just wanted...no, needed someone to talk to.

As ten-thirty at night rolled around, everypony began to wind down and get ready for bed. Vincent told me that he usually stayed awake into the wee hours of the morning when the drink finally caught up to him but since we were to make a long, important trip in the morning, it'd be best to get a good night's sleep. The girls all slept in the living room and I in Vincent's room like the night before except he was able to find a guest cot for me to sleep on. As we lay awake for a little while, we were able to get to know each other just a little bit more. We both had a lot of questions for each other.

"Vinnie?" Vincent asked.

"Yeah?" I answered.

"There's something I just don't understand about you and your pony friends that just really fuckin' confuses me."

"What's that?"

"Why do you guys smell so good? You don't stink like any other farm animals I've met."

"We don't live on a farm, man. We live in clean houses and we bathe every day just like humans do here. That's one of the reasons I was able to adjust to living in Equestria so easily."

"That's pretty sick, bruh."

"Sick? How is that sick? Hygiene is a good thing. Are you drunk again?"

"Nah, 'sick' is the new word for saying something's cool."

"I thought kids quit saying that in like 2006 or something. I haven't heard that in a while."

"I dunno man, I never really hung out with others much. I couldn't really get along with anybody."

"I was there too, kiddo. I didn't have a single frie-"

"Please don't call me that. At least not until we find out what's going on."

"Oh, sorry."

"No biggie."

"Alright then. So...about Jenny..."

"No, not about her. Look, I don't wanna talk about my mom until we get to Syracuse tomorrow. I just can't tell you why either. You're just gonna have to trust me, okay?"

"Okay, Vincent. I trust you."

Every time I mentioned his mother, Vincent clammed up on me. For some reason, he just simply didn't want to talk about her and I couldn't figure out why. Either way, we were going to see her tomorrow so we could sort this whole mess out. I'm anxious to find out how she was doing after all these years but I'll just have to wait and see once we get there. Just as with Vincent, I have so many questions for her. Does she hate my guts? Has she forgiven me? What could I do, if anything to make it up to her for letting her and our son down? It was hard to sleep with all those things rushing through my mind.

"We'll be getting up at eight o'clock, alright?" Vincent said.

"Okay, sounds fair." I replied. "Good night, son."

Oops. A little too soon.

"What did you just say?"

"S-sorry, it just slipped out. That happens sometimes. I once called Twilight 'Mom' when I was really tired."

Vincent said nothing else in response to that and soon, he was asleep. I honestly felt hurt but on the other hoof, he still isn't fully convinced that he's my kin. I guess I understand why he's so apprehensive about it. I mean, there was no DNA test or anything but then again, with me being a pony, would one even work? All I know is that we don't need one for me to be convinced. All the signs point to him being my seed. On my end, there's just no denying it. I just hope he can learn to accept me and we can both go join up with Jenny and be a family. I'll even come back to live in New York or Syracuse as a human again if I have to. No matter what it takes, I'm gonna do my job as a father and be there for them.

---

"Vinnie?" Jennifer said as she frantically pushed open the door of my apartment. "We need to talk."

"Uh o-okay, what's wrong, sweetheart?" I stuttered, knowing she had found out about my real job.

"Don't you 'what's wrong, sweetheart' me, Vincenzo! When you left your pager at my apartment, your boss Tony sent a message to it!"

"Oh God, Jenny, I can explain!"

"Yes, please explain because I don't even know what the fuck to think right now!"

"Jenny, baby I swear I was gonna tell ya sooner or later, I was just afraid that you wouldn't like the real me an-"

"I fell in love with what I thought was the real you, Vincenzo!"

Those words cut through me like a knife. It was right then and there that I knew I had made the biggest mistake in my life and I realized that I should have quit while I was ahead. As the only woman I fell in love with stood in my doorway with tears streaming down her face, I could see her looking down at the engagement ring on her finger that I had given her. A few months ago, we started making plans to get married and it was all about to go down the tubes.

"Vinnie, just answer me this one thing." Jenny sobbed.

"Anything! Baby, I promise, no more hiding anything! I'll tell you the truth, I swear!"

"While working for the mob...have you...have you ever k-killed anyone?"

I was expecting to be truthful with whatever question I would answer for my beloved Jenny. What I wasn't expecting was to be asked that particular question. As she stood before me waiting for an answer, my heart sank to a knew low. I now knew that it was all over and My wonderful mother was right. I had just lost the best thing that had ever came into my life.

"J-Jenny, it's just...part of the job." I answered. "I was just a hired gun I'm not a murd-"

"Oh my God!!" Jenny screamed as she ran out of my apartment.

"Jenny wait! Please, let's talk this over! Please, don't go, I need you!"

"Just stay the fuck away from me, Vincenzo! I'm leaving town and you can have this back!"

Before getting into a taxi, Jenny did something that simply tore my heart clean out of my chest. She yanked the ring I had given her off her finger and threw it at my feet. I could do nothing but look down at that ring that lay on the sidewalk as the woman who made my wreck of a life complete rode away out of sight. I looked back up to see her in the back seat of the cab and she turned around to look back at the sad excuse of a man I was one last time before she was gone. That was the last time I ever saw her.

"Jenny, come back!" I pleaded as I desperately ran off into the direction her taxi was going. "Jenny, don't leave me!"

"Dude, what are you talking about?" A strange voice said out of nowhere.

I was too distraught to pay any mind to whoever was talking to me as I ran out of breath, came to a stop and fell to my knees sobbing like I never had before.

"Yo, Flashlight Spackle! Does he talk in his sleep often?"

"Twilight Sparkle, and he never did before until we came to New York." I familiar female voice answered. "It's been happening to him a lot lately though. We've all been so worried about him."

"JENNY!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I burst out of my sleep.

"Vinnie!" Twilight exclaimed as she hugged me tightly. "Shhh, it's okay. Everything's going to be just fine."

After comforting me as best as she could, Twilight gently let go of me and turned to Vincent.

"Vincent, could I please have a word with you before you two head out. It's important."

"Uh, Okay." Vincent replied as he and Twilight went into the other room.

Twilight was always one to act as the voice of reason and it looked as if she was about to shine at it once more. Curious, I placed my ear against the door of Vincent's bedroom to eavesdrop on their conversation. I felt like I simply had to know what she was about to tell him. After all, we would soon be in a car on an eight hour round trip later.

"Please just hear me out." Twilight said to Vincent. "I understand that you've had it rough but I couldn't even begin to tell you the kind of pressure he's had to endure lately."

"I'm starting to see what you mean." Vincent replied.

"Right, so if you could please just do us all a favor and show some compassion towards him while you take this trip, we'd all be so grateful. Vinnie's our friend and he's really a truly wonderful pony. Please, all that we ask is that you be nice to him and don't add to his stress. We've all been keeping a close eye on him and we're afraid he could have a breakdown or a heart attack. He's fifty years old now and at his age, a pony's body isn't meant to deal with as much stress as he's had to."

"So...I guess knocking him upside the face didn't help then, eh?"

"No. Not only that but over the past few years he's lived in Equestria, he's developed a fatherly instinct towards the girls and I so protecting us has been on his mind a lot since we got here. Also, I know you aren't really convinced that you're related to him but try to see this from his perspective. When he found the picture of him and your mother the other night, we thought for sure that he was about to have a stroke."

"Jeez...I didn't know."

"Please, just keep that in mind. He may have made mistakes in his past but he's worked unbelievably hard to redeem himself. He's come a long way but to this day he still gets depressed at times about his past."

"Alright Twinkle, I'll cut him some slack."

"Twilight, and thanks."

I'm glad Twilight and Vincent had that talk. I wouldn't have been able to explain myself as well as she did. It was all true though. The events over the past few days were not good for me at all and I was a bit worried that Vincent, as hair triggered as he can be might find something to get pissed off about. I've been dealt a lot of blows but I don't think I can get pushed out of a moving car and live to talk about it. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. Yeah, that's another thing my stress has caused. Nice situation we're in. Just great.

After a quick shower, I helped Vincent pack some snacks and drinks into the car and before we knew it, we were on our way to the interstate. Our first turn was a left on Bedford Avenue and then taking a right on Fenimore street which would bring us to Flatbush Avenue next. We were only gone for less than ten minutes at this point but the way Vincent was shifting his car was gonna make this a much more unpleasant ride than it had to be.

"Vincent, can I make a suggestion?" I asked.

"I guess." Vincent replied. "What's that?"

"You'll burn the clutch out pretty quick if you shift too early like that. Try letting it rev up just a little higher before you shift and it'll drive a lot smoother. Trust me."

"The day a fucking pony tries to teach me how to..."

Our drive had just begun and already it was starting to look like it would be hell for me. I only wanted to help by giving Vincent some advice on driving a stick shift but it seemed it was very unwelcome. It did appear that there was still hope though as before Vincent finished his sentence, he stopped to take a few deep breaths.

"Sorry. I'll give that a try then." Vincent sighed.

"O-okay then. Just some friendly advice is all."

"Wow, that did shift a lot better. How'd you know how to do that?"

"I used to be a human, remember?"

"Ah, right. So uh...your friend and I had a talk before we left. The purple one, what's her name again?"

"That's Twilight Sparkle. What'd she have to say?"

"Well, first off I just wanna say I'm sorry I punched you yesterday."

"Thanks. I accept. See, I know what it's like to have a quick temper like that. When I was your age, I was one hell of a spitfire. Oh, I actually have a friend named that believe it or not."

"That so? So Ponyland has some pretty wacky names then? Nobody there named 'John' or 'Bob' or anything like that?"

"Nope. They're pretty creative with names there. It's called Equestria, by the way."

"Ah, okay. So how long did you say you lived there again?"

"About three and a half years."

"Uh huh...that adds up."

"Adds up to what?"

"Oh, I said that out loud? Never mind that."

"O-okay then. So, I gotta know. What happened to this city? It used to be great and pretty safe but it's really gone to shit."

"Yeah, it's gotten pretty bad over the past couple years. I've been here quite a few times before I moved here and it was alright back in the day. The people aren't as bubbly and full of life anymore and any random guy you walk past would crack your head open sooner than look at you. I don't know what happened here but all I do know is that if you wanna blend in here, you gotta walk fast and look pissed off. Make eye contact only if you have a death wish."

"That reminds me of my next question. Why did you act so excited when you thought you died? That nearly made me and my friends sick."

"Vinnie, take a good look at me and my life. I'm twenty three years old and I can't stop drinking, I can't pay my damn rent because I can't stop buying booze, I bought this little stick shift car 'cause it was two hundred bucks and I hardly even know how to drive it...among other things that I can't tell you about yet. Let's just focus on getting there and we can talk about anything we want."

The suspense of not knowing exactly what I needed to know was killing me and the fact that it would take several hours to find out was making it even worse. I do have to at least give Vincent credit for listening to Twilight and trying to be patient with me. Now, we just needed to get to the end of the Manhattan Bridge into the South side of the island and soon we would be on Route seventy-eight on our way to eighty-one which will take us right to Syracuse. I just hope this trip goes according to plan with no problems on the way.

"Uh, Vinnie?" Vincent said as he quickly rolled up his window.

"Yeah, Vincent?"

"I think when we talked about this city going to Hell, we may have jinxed something."

"Why? What's wro-"

Pow! Pow! Pow!

"That's what's wrong, now get down!"

Comments

[DarkStarz]

They got jumped biatch!

[Caddy Finz]

6961869 Not exactly but you'll see

[Flutters Is Shy]

"Why do you guys smell so good?  You don't stink like any other farm animals I've met."

Oh, wow. I honestly can't tell if I should consider this a simultanious insult and compliment or not.