In old Manehattan

by Askre

Chapter 2. Welcome to the big city.

Chapter 2

“You know, it’s a good thing your sister has opened a boutique here or we would never have been able to store all those suitcases,” Babs Seed remarked as she opened the door to her room and led the Crusaders inside.

“I don’t see what the problem is, it was just ten suitcases,” Sweetie Belle grumbled.

“Fifteen, those were fifteen and that’s not counting the bags and the hat baskets,” Scootaloo grunted, but that only seem to confuse unicorn some more.

Babs Seed and Apple Bloom shook their heads as they entered, ignoring the banter of their friends. The room had been fitted with three extra bed up against one wall. Otherwise it was a fairly typical filly’s bedroom, though toys were starting to make way for other things like music records and books, the walls were covered in posters of famous pony musicians.

“Ooh, is this where you practice your mane styling?” Sweetie Belle asked when she spotted a head-bust with a fake mane on it. Lots of scissors and other tools meant for mane care were around it.

“Yup, Aunt Orange is even goin’ to sponsor me to a great mane styling school when I’m done with regular school.” Babs nodded with satisfaction and glanced proudly at the scissor cutie mark on her flank.

“That’s awesome,” Scootaloo proclaimed, she had already claimed a bed and was balancing herself on the frame.

“Yeah, but I have a feelin’ you didn’t want to talk with us about mane stylin’, what’s up?” Apple Bloom wondered and sat down next to her cousin.

“It’s about somethin’ dat happened a while ago,” Babs Seed started and waited until she had the full attention of her friends. Sweetie Belle quickly turned away from the head-bust and Scootaloo jumped off the bed and landed next to the unicorn and sat down there.

“As you all remember, before I came for the first time to Ponyville, I was bein’ bullied for bein’ a blank flank. One time it happened, I ran into a sweet shop to hide,” Babs Seed continued. “The pony workin’ there was really nice, her name was Vanilla Cream and she helped me hide and even gave me free candy from the shop. I started to visit occasionally, sometimes even with Sunflower.”

“Then one day she was just gone, an old pony was suddenly at the counter and she told me Vanilla had gone on vacation. At the time I was goin’ on the trip when I first met you girls in Ponyville so I figured I would just see her later, but when I came back, the shop was gone, it’s a hat shop now,” Babs said looking deadly serious.

“Okay, granted that is weird, but that was few years ago, why are you bringing this up now?” Scootaloo wondered.

“Because just few weeks ago, I found her grave, it’s in the same graveyard mom is buried in,” the earth filly immediately responded. “I don’t think she was ever on vacation; I think she was murdered.”

The Crusaders stared shocked at their friend. At first they wanted to think Babs imagination had just gone wild, surely it would have been in the newspapers and she would have had her answer then. Apple Bloom then realized that Babs wouldn’t probably have found out, she was in Ponyville during that time, it was quite possible she missed the papers and any news if a pony had been murdered.

“You didn’t hear anythin’ when you came back?” Apple Bloom still decided to have that confirmed. Not surprisingly, her cousin shook her head.

“I wasn’t really thinkin’ dat much about it when I came back, I was busy dealin’ with my bullyin’ issue and guess I didn’t really think that much about it. At least not until I went to visit the shop and found it closed,” Babs answered.

“Did you know where she lived? Did you try and see her there?” Sweetie Belle wondered.

“No, I only knew dat she lived in Hoofington and I’m not supposed to go there. No point now though.” Babs shrugged with a solemn expression.

Apple Bloom started to think this over. Granted, Ponyville was a much smaller town than Manehattan, but she was pretty sure a murder would have been in the papers. Heck just the foalnapping case they had gotten themselves into few years back had received national coverage.

“Have you tried lookin’ up old newspapers?” she asked, that couldn’t be too hard. The expression on Babs Seed said otherwise.

“There are over 30 different newspaper printed in Manehattan, Hooflyn alone has 10 local papers, I wouldn’t even know where to start,” her cousin lamented.

“Hoofington papers of course, wait we know somepony there.” Apple Bloom suddenly lit up, back in her mind the name had been bugging her before it suddenly hit her.

“Of course, Tango lives in Hoofington, maybe he knew Vanilla or at least heard something.” Scootaloo caught on, recalling the parcel Time Turner had given Applejack.

“Who is Tango?” Babs wondered.

“Oh, remember the foalnappin’ case we wrote you about?” Apple Bloom looked at her cousin who nodded.

“Sure, Diamond Tiara was foalnapped by somepony who wanted revenge on her family, I read dat in the papers.” Babs confirmed that she was at least vaguely aware of it.

“Tango was a police officer in Ponyville, he was in on the foalnappin’, helping the foalnappers,” Apple Bloom continued.

She and the others Crusaders then proceeded to tell Babs more about the foalnapping. How they had gotten involved since this was back when they were still looking for a cutie mark. Scootaloo became quiet though when Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle talked about the foalnapper, a mare named Snow Heart. Her friends didn’t notice as they were living themselves too much in telling the tale.

“So Snow Heart and the others she hired got caught and that’s when they learned that one of them, the big pegasus Silver Axe that Big Mac fought, was actually a murderer,” Apple Bloom flailed her hooves as she gave the shocking twist. “And he killed the griffin that helped foalnap Diamond Tiara.”

“Woah.” Babs listened mesmerized to the story.

“And Snow Heart and Scootaloo’s mom used to be friends when they were fillies, right Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle looked at the pegasus and first now noticed how silent and thoughtful she had become.

“Hey Scoots, somethin’ wrong?” Apple Bloom inquired.

“Hm? No, just, I still feel little bad not remembering Snowy. I peeked into mom’s scrapbook she keeps that has pictures of me as foal and there were more pictures than I realized of her there with me, mom never showed me this though, then again I was never interested in seeing pics of me as foal,” Scootaloo sighed a bit.

“It’s not your fault, she did leave Ponyville when you were still very young,” Sweetie Belle pointed out and Apple Bloom agreed.

Scootaloo nodded and her spirit lifted up slightly. She knew there was nothing she could have done anyway, the filly had barely remembered Snow Heart and the mare hadn’t apparently recognized her either at first. Still she felt sadder for her mother, Parasol had clearly been fond of her childhood friend and had been devastated when learning that she was the ringleader of the foalnappers.

“So back on topic, if this Tango was involved in the foalnappin’, why is he in Hoofington?” Babs wondered when seeing that Scootaloo was feeling better.

“Uh, I heard Mr. Turner say somethin’ about him bein’ on probation? Whatever that is, Ah guess that’s some sort of punishment for committing a crime.” Apple Bloom shrugged.

“Tango was always nice, though a bit of a stick in the mud sometimes,” Sweetie Belle chimed in. “He always liked to help.”

“Yeah but we got a problem then, I am not supposed to go to Hoofington and I’m sure Applejack won’t like it if you three go there either.” Babs pointed out. “I’ve been there once, when this filly stole my ball and I chased her all the way to Hoofington by accident. I can tell you, that place really is a dump.”

“But you came back okay didn’t you?” Sweetie Belle asked and arched her brow. “The place can’t be that bad.”

“Huh, guess that’s a good point,” Babs said as she thought it over. Now that she thought about it, everyone she had met in Hoofington had been helpful, even Cara had in the end apologized for stealing her ball.

“Ah the adults are just being paranoid, I say we go over to Hoofington and go talk with Tango and see if he knows this Vanilla Cream,” Scootaloo declared and rose up.

“Wait, we don’t know where… oh no wait, the parcel.” Apple Bloom jumped up and ran out of the room, leaving her two friends to explain to her cousin what she meant.

The filly ran past the living room, noticing that Applejack was talking with Cousin Sunflower, Aunt and Uncle Orange. She paid it little mind, she figured they were merely catching up and telling each other what various relatives were doing. Apple Bloom headed into the guest room Applejack would be using, she immediately spotted the parcel on top of the suitcase.

Apple Bloom jumped up to the bed to read the address on it. Then she had a thought, since they were going to Hoofington anyway, why not just deliver it for Applejack? She grabbed the parcel in her mouth and scurried back to Babs Seed’s room where the other girls waited.

“It says Hoofington Park, what’s the fastest way there?” she asked as she put the parcel down in front of the others.

“Subway, you can walk to Hoofington but it takes a while,” Babs told her.

“So Hoofington is not near Hooflyn?” Apple Bloom asked and frowned a little when cousin shook her head no. She had been so sure the places were near each other.

“Well let’s go then, no time like the present.” Scootaloo jumped to her feet and eager to go, plus this would give them an excellent chance to explore the big city in the meantime.

“Shouldn’t we let Applejack know that we’re going?” Sweetie Belle wondered with a concerned look.

“Oh I’ll do that, you gals just head down stairs, I’ll meet you outside,” Babs said and rose up. The three Ponyville Crusaders all nodded at that and rushed out of the room.

Babs took a detour into the living room on her way out. She just walked in as she heard Mosley Orange, her uncle, talk about Sunflower and how she had recently graduated from business class. Her big sister was blushing in embarrassment at how the stallion kept praising her. The filly couldn’t help but giggle a little.

“Hey, the Crusaders and I are goin’ out for a bit,” she declared when there was a pause in the conversation.

“All right, dear, just be back before dinner and remember to keep off the streets, be sure to tell your cousin and your friends that, Manehattan streets aren’t like the ones in Ponyville,” her Aunt instructed with a smile. Applejack, however, looked a little skeptical.

“Uh you sure it’s okay for the girls to be out alone in the big city?” the mare wondered.

“Oh no it’s fine, Applejack, don’t worry darling. Hooflyn is perfectly safe area for children to play,” Aunt Orange assured her niece.

Well it’s not Hooflyn I’m worried about, Applejack thought but decided to shrug it off.

Babs didn’t really hear Applejack’s concern as she was already heading out after her aunt had spoken. She met the Crusaders outside the apartment building, the three Ponyville fillies were staring around still a bit in awe at being in this big city.

“Oh shoot, I forgot to tell dem we are going to deliver the parcel for Applejack.” Babs realized as soon as she was outside.

“We won’t be long, we can tell them afterwards,” Apple Bloom assured her cousin. Scootaloo nodded, it was with some hesitation that Sweetie Belle did, she looked the most sceptical of the three.

“True, I’m just trying to be more open with them, you understand, you remember how closed I was,” Babs said as she and the other Crusaders began walking down the sidewalk.

It was not a long walk to the nearest subway station, but it took them a little bit to figure out which way went to Hoofington. Even Babs, who was more used to the system had a little trouble spotting it. It wasn’t exactly straight forward like going to Bridle Way.

They did find it in the end and soon Babs got them all tickets. The ride itself was rather uneventful, the Crusaders marveled though at being in a train that went underground the whole way. The girls did, however, start to notice as they approached their destination, that less and less ponies were in the car. By the time the sub stopped at their station, it was empty safe for them.

“Not many going to Hoofington, huh?” Scootaloo remarked as she and the rest stepped out. The pegasus, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stopped short when seeing the messy Hoofington station.

“You weren’t kidding when you said this place was a dump,” Sweetie Belle whispered to Babs, there were few adult ponies nearby and she didn’t want to offend them.

The fillies climbed up the steps to the streets and once again the Crusaders were in for a shock. So far all the buildings had been rather pretty and well tended too, even the old looking ones. Now they saw structures that clearly needed repairs, there were cracks in the sidewalks and streets and much more litter.

“This is Hoofington?” Scootaloo blinked and barely could believe they were still in Manehattan.

“Yeah.” Babs shrugged and started to look around. “Uh I don’t know where in Hoofington, Park is, I took us to the part of the place I had been when I first came here.”

“So I guess we ask for direction,” Apple Bloom looked around, she didn’t see many ponies about and some looked rather unsavory.

“Oh this was a bad idea,” Sweetie Belle lamented as the fillies started following Babs.

“Don’t they repair the houses here? What’s up with that?” Scootaloo asked and looked around at all the disrepair.

“Rarity is always gushing about Manehattan, I wasn’t expecting the place could look like this,” Sweetie Belle said and side stepped before stepping in a puddle, it didn’t look like water.

“She’s probably only seen or knows about the shiny parts,” Babs shrugged. “Seriously majority of Manehattan is actually pretty dull.”

Apple Bloom was about to add in her two bits when suddenly a pony passed them at full gallop. The filly blinked when her back suddenly felt lighter and she turned her head, the parcel was gone from her back, now held firmly in the mouth of the running stranger.

“Hey! The parcel!” she shouted and immediately started running after the thief.

“Hey wait for us!” Scootaloo called as she and the other girls hurried to catch up with Apple Bloom. The pegasus filly dearly wished she had brought her scooter along.

The chase didn’t last long as Apple Bloom rather quickly lost sight of the thief who obviously knew the area better. She stopped, snorting and stomping one hoof on the ground.

“Dag nabbit. That pony stole Tango’s parchel!” the filly glowered around, hoping to spot the pony again.

“Some ponies.” Sweetie Belle shook her head in dismay.

“Maybe we can still find him,” Scootaloo declared, not quite ready to give up and almost immediately scurried off. She was stopped by Babs Seed.

“Are you bonkers? He’s long gone, sorry gals, that parcel is gone. I should have told you to carry it in your mouth, not as easy to steal,” Babs said giving her cousin a sympathetic look.

“Why would somepony steal a parcel from a filly? Who does that?” Apple Bloom had clearly not calmed down.

“Welcome to the big city, Cuz.” Babs couldn’t help but smirk a little at her cousin’s naivety. “Sorry but this happens, it can even happen in Hooflyn if you’re not careful.”

“How am I going to explain this to Applejack?” her cousin lamented and groaned in more frustration.

“We’ll deal with that later, since the parcel belonged to Tango, I guess we better find him and explain it to him first,” Babs suggested, mostly because they were still in Hoofington so they might as well.

“I still say we should try and find the parcel again,” Scootaloo grunted and really wished she could fly now. “This would never happen to Rainbow Dash. She would catch the thief.”

“Yeah but none of us are Rainbow Dash, let’s just be glad the thief only took the parcel.” When those words left Babs mouth, the color almost drained from the Ponyville girls. Quickly they all three nodded when remembering that they had in fact witnessed worse crimes. They could have been the ones stolen.

With glum looks the fillies tried to find their way back. Babs had intended to take them to one place she did remember in Hoofington, a gym of some sort. The earth filly was sure they could get directions to Tango’s address from there.

“What a way to start our week in Manehattan,” Apple Bloom mumbled, her head hung low. She was so distracted she didn’t notice a pony that was crossing the street and stepping up on the sidewalk. The filly walked right into the stranger.

“Ompf..” Apple Bloom fell back and the other girls stopped short when seeing what happened.

Before them stood pony draped in a black cloak. Only the thin grayish white legs could be seen and from under the hood a muzzle peeked out. Two golden eyes stared at the four fillies, then there came a gleam of recognition in them. Slowly, the mare reached up with one leg to take down the hood, revealing herself as she stared dumbfounded at the Ponyville Crusaders.

“Snow Heart!?” Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shouted when realizing who the pony are.

“Girls… what… what are you doing here in Hoofington?” she asked looking and sounding very alarmed.

“We’re here to find Tango, what are you doin’ here?” Apple Bloom responded, tilting her head and raising one eyebrow.

“I-I live here…” Snow Heart started to look around worriedly. “You four need to get out of here, this place is not safe.”

“Tell us about it, we just got robbed by a pony who took Tango’s parcel that we were going to deliver to him,” Sweetie Belle grunted and pointed in the general direction she thought the thief had gone.

“Wait, is this the Ponyville Foalnapper?” Babs Seed asked, her jaw dropping a bit. This title caused the mare to cringe as she glanced at the Manehattan filly.

“I’ve served my time… I live now with Tango here in Hoofington...” Snow Heart stopped talking for a moment, closed her eyes, took a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm down. Then she assumed a more serious expression as she looked down at the girls. “As I was saying, you four need to get back to wherever you came from, now!”

“Oh, you live with Tango?” Apple Bloom lit up, ignoring Snow Heart’s apparent urgency. “Do you know if he knew a pony named Vanilla Cream.”

At the sound of the name, Snow Heart froze and her eyes widened. She whispered something the fillies didn’t catch. Then the mare scowled as anger started to surge through her, all she wanted now was the four girls to disappear away from here. Snow was about to say something, she opened her mouth but her words died down when noticing that the street they were on was bereft of life.

Snow quickly looked around and then gazed upwards, seeing three pegasi stallions up on the rooftops. One was very muscular and ash gray, one was little leaner and was yellow, the third was dark bluish gray and the smallest of the bunch.

Oh no, Snow Heart gasped and started to back away from the fillies.

“I’m not breaking the rules! They stopped me!” she shouted skywards, confusing the girls who glanced up at the pegasi who jumped off the roofs and descended down to street level.

“Barricade! I didn’t break the mandate! I was just passing by them!” Snow Heart continued to scream, the pegasi didn’t approach but were clearly blocking any escape routes.

The four Crusaders looked at each other at the sound of the name. The Ponyville fillies recalled the brief discussion at the train station, while Babs was finding the name familiar for other reasons.

Isn’t that the name of the gym Cara ran into back when she stole my ball? she thought.

They didn’t need to wonder for too long who Barricade was. From one end of the street a tall and very fit unicorn stallion was approaching. He was dark gray, his hooves dark brown and he had dirty blonde mane. On his flank was the image of a brick wall. Snow Heart was also staring at the newly arrived pony.

“Snow Heart,” Barricade’s expression was very grave as he observed the cloaked mare.

End chapter 2