The Quickverse Chronicles

by Quick Fix

Duty (Babs Seed)

Author's Note:

Not really spoilers for, but does provide additional context for several scenes in The White Phoenix.

Manehatten
June 11th, Year 15 under the Four Princesses

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Evening was just beginning to settle over Manehatten, ending a pleasant summers day that had just enough of a breeze to keep the heat from being uncomfortable. The streets were still filled with ponies going about their various ways, a myriad number of reasons and excuses to be out here, some purpose driven, some just looking for something to happen around them. A few ponies were managing to do both at the same time, most notably the police ponies that were patrolling the city on hoof. As much as it had come along in recent years, Manehatten still had something of a crime problem in certain areas and the police departments that covered the city were doing their utmost to crack down on these issues and provide a better place for everypony.

One of their patrol officers was on the edge of one of these areas, walking the waterfront in the northwest of the city, not far from the Celestial Bridge that linked Manehatten to mainland Equestria. An earth mare with a light brown coat, trimmed amaranth mane and tail with some lighter streaks, green eyes with a trio of white freckles just under them and a cutie mark of a white round shield with a four point blue star in the center, Babs Seed looked almost every inch a member of the Manehatten PD. Her outfit was spick and span, an azure polo shirt with the police crest on the left lapel, matching peaked cap and a black equipment bag wrapped round her chest that contained the basic tools of the job and doubled as some basic protection. Nopony who saw her could doubt that she took the job seriously.

Seriously had been a bit of an understatement back when she had undergone the final stage of training at the Trottingham Academy. The class of year fourteen had been a strong one and being in the top five upon graduation had been one of the proudest moments of her life. Unfortunately, the night after nearly undid all the years of work she had put into getting there. The graduation party had seen everypony reliving months of stress and pressure to perform in training , she knew she hadn't gotten any sleep that night, or the day after, maybe that was why everything was a haze when she tried to remember. Three months later a routine medical examination had confirmed that one thing had lead to another at some point and that she was pregnant. Aside from the difficulties that came from such a life changing development happening at twenty four years old, it had almost killed her career on the spot, her superiors weren't keen on sending somepony in her condition into somewhere as rough as Manehatten could be and she couldn't be transferred quickly enough.

Several weeks of debate on the issue, combined with regularly showing she could still match the physical requirements of duty, had ultimately worked out in her favour. Now here she was, eight months along, patrolling one of the quieter parts of the waterfront, feeling her shirt rolling up slightly as it failed to keep covering her gravid belly. Every so often she stopped and watched ponies going by, looking like she was observing for signs of trouble, trying not to pay attention to how passers by stared at her. She had to stay focused at all times, the occasional gentle movement within her a constant reminder of just how much higher the stakes were if anything were to happen on her watch.

Babs sighed to herself as she passed a street corner diner and stopped, glancing at it for a moment. Her hooves were aching from over an hour on patrol and her back wasn't feeling much better with a foal to carry around. The more she looked at it, the more appealing it felt to head inside. There were enough windows for her to keep watch on things in the street and she had enough bits on her for something quick to eat, an idea that seemed even more tempting with how much extra she needed these days and the fact she'd stopped here more than once when off-duty. She felt a soft kick from the foal as if trying to encourage her in that direction and gave in to the desire, trotting over to the entrance and stepping inside. It was still quiet with only the pony on the counter inside, which made sense at this time of day since it was between the times when tourists came in during the day and locals in the night.

"Good evening officer, how can I help?" The pony behind the counter asked as he noticed her, a somewhat portly earth stallion with a light grey coat, blue eyes and white mane and tail. Babs went over to the counter and pulled herself up onto a barstool, grunting slightly from the extra effort needed.

"Evening, Fresh Catch. Just a five minute sit down, an oatcake with hay topping and a glass of water please." She replied, resting against the counter as she fished her money out from her shirt pocket and placing them down. Fresh nodded and took the bits before going to prep her food.

Finally able to have a proper breather, Babs settled into her seat now that the weight was off her hooves and back. A quick glance round showed that the streets outside were pretty empty for now, letting her relax the slightest bit as she adjusted her shirt. It gave her a little time to think about what she was going to do next. In three months time she was going to be a mother, having a whole new set of responsibilities awaiting her, the father likely completely unaware of what was happening right now. Her career would be on hold while she had maternity leave but what was she going to do after a year or so when she would have to start with both at the same time? Her first thought went to her family, who had been shocked by the initial news but reasonably supportive. The second went to her friends Sky Breaker and Wood Chip, the other members of the Manehatten Cutie Mark Crusaders. At a longer stretch there was even the Ponyville CMC and her family there. Between all of them, she reasoned as she gently placed a hoof on her heavy middle, she would figure something out.

Her train of thought was broken by the sound of shattering glass and she swung round on her stool, training and instincts kicking in as she analysed the scene before her. 'Three suspects, two earth pony of both genders, one unicorn stallion with a bat. All masking any identifying features with white coats and balaclavas, they're not first timers. Glass in the door is broken, most likely the bat. At a guess they're from the hot zone in the north of the city, trying to expand a protection racket here. Judging by the one in the middle raving on, they either haven't noticed me or they're not that experienced either.' Part of her was glad there were no colts or fillies present to witness this crime, another part acknowledging that she had to intervene and odds were, it was going to get rough.

"I know criminals have a tendency to be a little...Dim," Babs said as she took her cap off, leaving it on the counter as she got back down to the floor, getting some incredulous looks from the criminal trio for cutting off their big entrance speech. "But targeting a business with an active police officer inside? Really?" Normally she would be a little more tactful when dealing with suspects, but they had made their intentions clear already.

"H-hey! It's still three fighting ponies against one pol..ic..." The earth mare standing on the right started, her voice first tense, then confused as she went on. "Wow, are the PD so desperate that they're taking on fat ponies now?"

"Cool it," The lead earth pony interjected, his voice a lot more restrained as he stepped toward Babs. "That kind of bulk just makes it easier to deal with her. Once we've shown we're not messing around and capable of taking an officer, we'll be able to take what we need.

Well, that put down any lingering hope of a peaceful resolution.

"Threatening a police officer is bad enough, and a criminal offence, but directly threatening a pregnant mare at the same time...That's just low." Babs commented. She hadn't wanted to reveal that vulnerability but it might just convince at least one of them to ease off, assuming they had any morals left at all. To her disappointment, the earth stallion that she was assuming to be the leader kept advancing on her.

"Oh really now? Maybe you should think about backing off them, before your or your foal get yourselves hurt, eh?" He commented with an intimidating tone, getting up in Babs' face and poking her somewhat forcefully in the chest with a hoof. The threats probably would have been enough justification to defend herself but he had got physical, she had a witness in Fresh Catch and beside all that...She could shrug off the fat comments but nopony, but NOPONY, threatened her foal and walked away!

Her front left hoof came up quickly, smacking the offending hoof skyward, followed up by rapidly bringing her front right up into the gap where it had been. The stallion barely had time to register the first counter before the uppercut smashed into his jaw, sending him recoiling in pain. Babs let gravity bring her hooves back down, realising too late that it had left her exposed as the unicorn charged forward with the bat gripped in his magic. She barely had time to stabilise herself before the bat was swung, hitting her square in the chest and making her grunt as the hit forced her backward against the counter. Fortunately, her equipment bag had done it's job and taken the worst of the impact. In fact, it had done more than that.

One of the items everypony on the force kept in their bag was a scroll, enchanted so that it would be sent to the nearest police department when written on. It was a handy way for ponies on patrol to report crimes quickly so that a response could be dispatched quickly, though it also had a secondary method of use. If struck hard enough while still inside the bag, like the hit it had just taken, the magic would activate and send it with a report of an officer under attack and their location. Backup was likely being scrambled for her right now, all she had to do was stay standing until they got here.

Babs gritted her teeth as her legs braced to keep her from losing what little ground she had left, able to see the unicorn's follow up strike coming this time. She pushed her body sideways and managed to avoid the bat coming down on her head, or any other part of her. For 'fighting ponies' they were doing a poor job of it as she got some space to the right while the unicorn advanced on her instead of pulling back and letting the other two join in. She waited for him to swing the bat again before ducking the swipe and pushing forward, kicking his front left leg out from under him and following it up with a punch to the left temple. The blow was enough to knock the unicorn out, the bat dropping from his magic and clattering onto the ground next to his body as it slumped and fell. One down, two to go.

"Dammit, sic her already!" The lead stallion shouted as he recovered from the initial attack, the wool of his balaclava around his jaw looking a little bloody. The mare shook her head slightly and moved into the fight, throwing a set of punches aimed at the head and chest. Babs managed to dodge the first and parry the follow ups, noting that despite the focus in her gold eyes, her new opponent was hesitating, clearly uncomfortable with what she was having to do. That kind of vulnerability could be exploited, though the same could be said of diverting some of her attention to notice such things.

Babs felt a hoof make solid contact with her right shoulder, knocking her off balance and into another hoof that hit her square in the muzzle with a worrying crunch. Pain spiked through her face as she stumbled to her left, desperately trying to keep herself from falling. Her hooves managed to get some purchase on the ground and her legs shook from the effort of bringing her extra weight to a halt. Her senses were coming together again after that hit, the pain getting worse now she was aware of it, a damp warmth making itself felt running down her nose and dripping onto the floor. Her muzzle was clearly broken and her focus was still a little disoriented but she was still in the fight. The mare had not pressed the advantage and was holding her ground, looking even less willing to try anything else now.

The remaining stallion was already moving again though. Babs saw out of the corner of her eye that he had gone for the unattended bat and was bringing it back for a swing. The angle was too low to be aiming for her head and too high for her legs, add in the fact he was on her left side and...Her blood froze as she realised he was going for her exposed belly. She turned as the bat swung forward and threw her hooves up on instinct, taking the worst of the hit on her front legs with the end of the bat striking her shoulder, just missing her barrel. That was going to leave a lot of bruises at best, though she could already tell she was lucky not to break anything in that hit Any restraint she had been exercising was overwhelmed by the fresh pain and she let an angered growl loose as her hooves wrapped around the bat and yanked it sideways. The momentum sent the stallion aggressor sprawling face first into the side of the counter.

Both of them let go of the bat and Babs pressed her fresh advantage, spinning round while her opponent was dazed and bucking him square in the side. The blow knocked him clean off his hooves and crashing into a barstool. Babs waited until he'd come to a halt before closing in and pressing her hoof on his neck, light enough to let him keep breathing but with enough force to show she wasn't letting him get up from this position. She let out a breath she didn't realise she'd been holding and simply stood over the dazed stallion, panting from the effort so far as she realised he was in too much pain to get up. Her eyes went to the mare, both knowing that it was now one on one between a nervous criminal and a bruised, bloodied, exhausted, but active and seriously pissed off police pony.

"Okay okay! This ain't worth it, I give up!" The mare cried as she saw the way she was being stared down, sitting herself down quickly and putting her front hooves up in surrender.

"...Good." Babs panted, retching slightly as she got a few drops of blood in her mouth. Her free hoof opened her equipment bag and fetched out a pair of hoofcuffs. She fitted one to the front right leg of the beaten stallion underneath her and one to his rear left, making sure he couldn't walk out when he recovered. She had enough cuffs for everypony, doing the same with the surrendered mare and the still out cold unicorn.

"Is...It over?" Fresh Catch asked as he poked his head up from behind the counter where he'd been watching from cover since the fight had broken out.

"Yeah, yeah it's safe," Babs replied, tensing up at some uncomfortable movement within her and sitting down to hold her belly gently. "It's ok kiddo, I'll get checked over soon but I didn't let them hurt ya. Nopony messes with my little girl."

Babs turned back toward the counter and tried to wipe some of the blood off her muzzle with her hoof, knowing that using a napkin would technically be tampering with a crime scene now. As soon as they touched each other though, she got a fresh stinging pain in her muzzle and an ache in her leg, both reminders that this was going to be her final piece of service for now. Recovery time aside, there was no way she would be allowed to remain on active duty after an incident as bad as this. One of the compromises that had allowed her to remain this long was that she avoided serious trouble and this had been more than serious. Still, as far as her last patrol before going onto maternity leave went, things could have gone a lot worse.

She looked round on hearing the diner door open again and was greeted by the sight of her backup coming in, two pegasi from the rapid response unit. They stopped at the state of the building, taking in broken glass on the floor in front of them, barstools knocked in every direction, more than a few drops of blood scattered around and three cuffed ponies laid out, one out cold, one starting to struggle against his bonds. Standing at the back of it all was Babs, muzzle slightly crooked, bleeding profusely from the nose, bruises visible through her fur on her front legs and covered ones on her shoulders, but victorious.

"Seed! How bad is it?" One of them asked as they flapped over to her, checking her injuries as the other went to get medical help. Babs simply pushed her mane to one side with her unbloodied hoof and looked over her body with a tired smile.

"Well...I could probably use a doctor, but the one important thing is unhurt."

Comments

[Comickook]

Hey there. Thanks greatly for getting the next chapter up. I really appreciate you going to the effort. Once again, great job on the exchanges, emotional content, action and wrap-up in all the right places. I particularly liked seeing those three hoods learn (the hard way) NOT to underestimate a pregnant woman. I'm definitely going to be looking forward to more stories in this series.

[Quick Fix]

7632684 Really, it's no effort and no need for thanks, it's starting to get a little embarrassing. I think part of it was not to underestimate Babs but yeah, a maternal mare is not to be trifled with either. I've always thought that pregnant woman are somewhat underrepresented so I do tend to slip one in from time to time.