Tango

by Askre

Chapter 7. Tragedy

Chapter 7

Tango lay in slumber. Parts of him wanted to wake up, the other just wanted to continue wallowing in misery. The hangover wasn’t helping much either, the throbbing headache kept reminding him of last two days of heavy drinking. The stallion had really just wanted to forget but somehow the alcohol just made him remember the first day clearer and that had made him angry.

Now though as a new morning had arrived, most of it was a drunken blur. He only vaguely remembered talking with someone, lots of loud noises, then just going to his bed with a new bottle, spending the rest of it and most of yesterday there. The stallion groaned and rolled to his side, kicking many empty cider bottles off the bed in the process.

Tango groaned more when he realized that he needed to pee, he really did not want to rise up. In the end he relented though, slowly stumbling to his legs and dragging himself out of the bedroom and to the bathroom.

When he walked out of the bathroom the stallion contemplated just going straight back to bed. It wasn’t like he was needed right now anywhere, but then his stomach rumbled. With a sigh the pony headed into the kitchen to find something edible to munch on. As he rummaged through his kitchen he heard voices and suddenly there was a knock on his apartment door.

Ugh, he groaned and stumbled out of the kitchen. There was another knock, louder and someone called his name.

“Coming…” he called though his voice didn’t rise a whole lot, his headache didn’t allow it.

Tango opened the door and half expected it to be Barricade come to bother him again, but no it was Mrs. Fin and an older powder blue mare that he didn’t recognize. They were looking very concerned.

“Oh good you are awake, have you heard or seen Vanilla at all this morning?” Mrs. Fin asked but she was giving the stallion a very hard glare that he couldn’t quite understand why.

“Yeah, Vanilla didn’t show up for work this morning, so I hoppled over here to Hoofington to see if she was okay, she was mighty downtrodden yesterday so I gave her half the day off, I’m Toffee Swirl, her employer,” the old mare spoke.

“What?” Tango frowned in confusion.

“Vanilla is missing, you miserable excuse for a stallion,” Mrs. Fin snapped. “She went to work yesterday heartbroken after you verbally abused her the other day and she hasn’t been home at all after that.”

“What?” Tango blinked as he took this in, a blurry memory was starting to tug at his brain, he had shouted at someone.

“Son, have you or have not seen Vanilla?” Toffee Swirl asked, she sounded calmer than Mrs. Fin who still gave Tango a death glare.

“Not since… not since… she came to show me a dress… wait… oh Celestia, what I have done!?” Tango froze as it all came back to him, his brain practically forcing through the blur and showing when he yelled and threw the bottle at Vanilla.

“Tango, I am going to report your rampage to your probation officer. Now thanks to you Vanilla is missing and considering some of the ponies that live in this neighborhood, I dread to think in what state she is in, you better hope she alright,” Mrs. Fin snapped before turning to Toffee. “We better go to the police and file a missing pony report.”

Tango barely paid attention to what the heavy set mare had said. He was just continuously replaying in his mind what had occurred the other day, becoming more horrified by the second as it dawned on him more and more what he had done. Suddenly he sprang past both mares and galloped out of the building.

“Well, what got into him?” Toffee blinked when the stallion disappeared outside.

“Hopefully wising up and going to search for Vanilla and apologize if he finds her in one piece,” Mrs. Fin snorted and closed the apartment door since Tango had neglected to do so.

---

Tango had no idea where to even begin searching for Vanilla, he didn’t really know her usual routes. However, he had a feeling a certain pony knew either where she was or what happened to her.

What was I thinking… why did I say all that? the stallion thought as he galloped down the streets.

“Stupid, stupid… I just can’t believe I…” he muttered, evading other ponies as he ran.

“He knows, I just know it he knows, like he’s been treating her, sizing her up like that,” Tango growled as he thought over the past few days.

Tango sneered when seeing his location in the distance, The Barricade gym. He didn’t even care if he was heading straight into a lion’s den, there would be plenty of ponies there that could cause him serious injury. The stallion was intent on ‘talking’ with their boss, that blasted unicorn that’s been making his life even more miserable than it already was.

The former officer kicked open the door to the gym and raced right in. He ignored the surprised and startled look from the other ponies as he charged right for the office. He didn’t even pay attention to Barbell who had been by the counter, bandages wrapped around her head.

“Hey!” she called after him, but he didn’t listen, there was only one pony here he wanted to see.

“Where is she!” Tango snarled as he slammed open Barricade’s office.

Barricade rose up from his desk, using his magic he enveloped a magic aura over Cara who had been playing on the floor with some toys and pulled her closer to him. The unicorn frowned as he stared gravely at the steaming earth pony who had barged in.

“Tango, I recommend you carefully consider what you do next,” Barricade warned as his magic let go of Cara. The filly quickly crawled behind the desk and peeked frightened from behind it.

“Tell me where she is, what have you done to her?!” Tango growled and stomped further into the office just as Blue and Barbell appeared in the doorway. Their boss however gave them a signal to stay put.

“I can only assume you’re talking about Vanilla,” Barricade remarked and walked around the desk, there was nothing now between him and the angry pony.

“Of course I am! Why else would I come to this filthy stink hole!?” Tango snapped and gave the floor a hard stomp with one hoof.

“Tango!” Barbell shouted, causing the stallion to look at her. Now first did he see the bandages on her and that she was covered in bruises.

“Vanilla accidentally stumbled up on us and the rest of the gang when we were out tussling yesterday night,” the mare said calmly but intently.

“Where is she?” Tango growled.

“She was attacked when I…” Barbell didn’t get further, just hearing that she was attacked sent Tango into rage. He turned right back to Barricade and charged for him.

“YOU SON OF A…” Tango didn’t get further. The unicorn slammed his right front hoof into his face, sending him sailing to the innermost wall.

“Hey, I use the equipment in my gym just so you know,” Barricade snorted as the earth pony crumbled to the ground, the punch had not helped with his headache at all.

“Seriously Tango, you honestly think we did anything to her?” the unicorn snorted as he walked over to him. “Alright, not the right question, let’s put it more this way. Do you think that if we had done something to her, we would just have let you barge in here and not just thrown you immediately out? If you hadn’t noticed Barbell was trying to tell you what happened.”

“Secondly, don’t ever, EVER come here with violence near my daughter. You want to duke it out, we can go to the streets if you really want to,” Barricade snarled down at the disoriented Pony.

“Tango, we did not attack Barbell. A rival gang did, they heard of our gathering and were coming to attack us, they thought she was part of our group since I was trying to escort her home.” Barbell walked in, she still kept the same calm but intent tone in her voice.

“Take a look at Barbell, she looks like this because she tried to protect your precious girlfriend!” the unicorn snorted, gesturing to the mare.

“Tango… I’m sorry, I realized too late that she had fallen behind me. By the time I got back to her, they were already kicking her around…” Barbell fell silent and glanced at Blue. “Blue, don’t stand there you idiot, take Cara out of here!”

The blue stallion quickly nodded and waved to the filly to come to him. Cara quickly flew over and left the office with the large pony. When it was clear that the girl was gone, Barbell looked back down at Tango who had fallen silent and stared right back at her.

“I tried to fend them off, but there were too many so I had to run back to my gang to get them to come and help. We finally managed to chase them off… but…” Barbell had to stop for a moment.

“We took her to the hospital, but it was too late,” Barricade finished.

No. Tango paled up and felt numb.

“Now kindly,” the unicorn lowered his head to be muzzle to muzzle with the other stallion, glaring at him. “Get your sorry pitiful carcass out of my office and out of my gym!”

Tango slowly rose up and Barricade backed away to give him room to do so. The earth stallion’s anger had all vanished, now he just didn’t know what to say or do. The unicorn opened his mouth to say something, but Barbell put a hoof on his shoulder to silence him.

“Barricade please, not now,” she said tiredly.

Slowly Tango edged himself to the entrance of the office, his head hung and ears downcast. The stallion paid little attention to the looks given him as he crossed the distance between the office and the exit of the gym. He had no idea what to do now.

Outside the stallion stopped and looked around. Ponies where everywhere going about their business. Tango just stood there, watching, feeling numb and unsure what to do. He couldn’t believe it; it couldn’t be real. Why should he believe them? They were criminals as far as he was concerned.

No, it can’t be true, he thought and started walking. There was only one hospital close enough to Hoofington Lane that would be sensible to take someone in dire need of medical care.

Tango kept convincing himself that this couldn’t be right, why would Barricade or Barbell take Vanilla to a hospital? Why wouldn’t they just leave her rotting in the ditch if they came across her. It just didn’t fit in his mind. When he finally arrived at the hospital, the stallion half expected that once he got home Vanilla would be there with a story how she just simply was lost on her way home.

The stallion entered the hospital and approached the reception. He calmed himself down fully before preparing to address the nurse manning it. He was almost positive that no pony had been brought here matching Vanilla’s description.

“Excuse me, was a young mare brought here yesterday severely injured after an attack? Vanilla colored, yellowish mane, candy heart for a cutie mark. Goes by the name Vanilla Cream,” Tango inquired.

“Just a moment, I need to check,” the nurse said and rose up, she walked to another nurse and began talking with her.

Tango waited patiently, thinking now that Barricade and Barbell had just been messing with him. The nurse didn’t come back right away; she was talking to another nurse now who started nodding. The nurse returned finally after few minutes and looked very grave and sorry.

“Sir, you might want to sit down for this one,” she spoke calmly and gently. Tango started to pale up, slowly he did as instructed.

“There was a mare with this description brought to the ER yesterday night. However, she was too far gone, we couldn’t save her. She was too injured,” the nurse then told him.

“No…” Tango whispered, he couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t possible.

“Sir, are you a relative of the deceased?” she asked him gently.

“A… a friend,” the stallion whispered feeling tears in his eyes. Yeah… some friend you are.

“Can I… can I see her?” he asked.

“I should warn you sir, she looks pretty bad, are you sure?” the nurse asked, Tango just nodded.

Another pony on the hospital staff was called to lead the stallion to the morgue. Tango followed with heavy hoof steps. It still all seemed so unreal to him, he couldn’t believe this was happening. There was pit now in his stomach and the rest of his body just felt numb, he barely dared to enter the room where bodies lay on tables covered with white sheets.

“This way, sir,” the coroner said after being told what Tango was doing here by the staffer. The yellowish pony walked to the inner most table and prepared to unravel the sheet.

Tango walked closer and gave a single nod to the coroner. The sheet went off and the stallion reeled back in horror. Vanilla lay there completely still, her body covered in heavy bruises and cuts. Her face was badly beaten and the muzzle looked broken. Her mane was torn and there were still dried patches of blood on her vanilla coat.

No… no… Tango dared himself to walk closer but he couldn’t deny it anymore. She was really gone, he reached to touch her mane, there was no reaction. He touched the front leg that was closest to him, it felt cold to the touch.

“No… Vanilla!” The stallion broke down and wrapped his legs around the cold body of the mare. He couldn’t stop the tears as they flooded down his cheeks. He buried his face into what was left of the tattered mane, that had been so lush once. Hugged the pony tight who had once been so full of life. She had only tried to bring some optimism into his own dreary existence and he had thrown it all away.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…” Tango sobbed, he was unable to let go, he just couldn’t believe she was gone. There would be no more daily visits, no more seeing that joyful mare walking around the building greeting her neighbors. All because he had in drunken rage crossed the line, called her names she didn’t deserve to be called, became the focus of his anger when she had done nothing to deserve it.

Finally, once he just couldn’t cry anymore he let go of her. It was painful to step away from the limp body on the table and watch the coroner cover the body again. Both she and the other hospital pony had watched him with sympathy, allowing him to say his goodbye.

“You want something to drink, sir?” the staffer asked gently. Tango shook his head, he slowly turned around and walked out.

---

It was with heavy steps that Tango returned to Hoofington Lane. He hadn’t really walked a straight path back home, just wandered lost in thought, remembering Vanilla and how horribly he had treated her. She had offered nothing but friendship to him and now he had nothing.

He barely noticed that there was police presence around the building, not until a green unicorn mare with a darker green mane stepped up in front of him and stopped the stallion. She wore a uniform and when Tango looked at her, he realized it was the one officer in the area that didn’t dislike him for his criminal past.

“Tango, hey,” she addressed him with a friendly smile. “Sorry to stop you like that, but we are asking everypony in your building few questions, and I think I better ask you rather than somepony else.”

“Officer Trotters,” Tango whispered, he looked around and saw various police ponies talking with other ponies. He could see Mrs. Fin at the entrance, she looked upset.

“You know Vanilla Cream? She lives in the same building as you, she was brought yesterday to the hospital… oh, you know already,” Trotters fell silent when seeing the anguish come on Tango when hearing Vanilla’s name.

“I’m sorry Tango, our reports indicate that she was attacked by a gang from another neighborhood, surprisingly it was our local bully Barricade and his crew who chased them away, but they were too late. She was too far gone,” the officer told him and shook her head.

“You didn’t hear anything yesterday? This didn’t happen that far away from your street,” she then asked and brought up a notebook and a pen.

“N-no,” Tango whispered and felt new tears at the corners of his eyes. “I was in drunken stupor in my bed.”

“You were asleep in other words.” Trotters nodded.

“This is my fault,” the stallion hung his head again. The officer looked at him with a concerned expression.

“The day before… I… I said some horrible things to her… I called her horrible names… I was drunk… angry… I lashed out at her… I just… she… she’s been nothing but kind to me and I… and I call her a whore and a skank for no other reason than… than…” Tango started crying unable to continue.

Trotters put her notebook and pen back in the pocket of her uniform. She then walked closer to the stallion and drew him in a hug, patting him reassuringly on the back. Tango put his legs around her and continued to cry on the officer’s shoulder.

“We’ll find those who did this, I promise you,” Trotters said reassuringly. “Come on, I’ll escort you to your apartment so my fellow officers will leave you alone.”

Tango sniffed, nodded and let go of her. He then followed the officer to the building. Trotters gave any police officer looking their way a warning look before they could even open their mouths. They walked past Mrs. Fin who just gave a Tango a cold glare as they went through the entrance.

Trotters escorted Tango all the way inside the apartment. Seeing that the pony was really in no shape to do anything more, the mare guided him to the bedroom and had him lie down on the bed. She used her magic to put a blanket over him and made sure he was comfortable before leaving.

“Vanilla…” Tango whispered before drifting into uneasy sleep.

End Chapter 7

Author's Note:

This chapter was very difficult to write, actually more difficult than I had anticipated. Which is why it took so long to post it.

Officer Trotters is actually a semi-canon character, she appears in the IDW comics in issue 21 and 22. They actually use police ponies in Manehattan there, so I figured I would use one of them as the officer that doesn't dislike Tango.