Episode 5: 50/50
The little clock beside the bed made a harsh ringing sound as it went off beside my head. I fumbled to turn it off, and ended up hitting my hoof fruitlessly on the nightstand several times before it crashed on to the top of the alarm clock and made the darn thing shut up. I wanted to flop back down and go back to sleep, but I forced myself to roll over and out of the bed, setting my hooves on the cold floor beneath me.
A groan came from other side of the bed, and a brown hoof waved absentmindedly. “It it eight already?” Sterling asked. He sat up and looked around, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. He smacked his lips a couple of times for good measure. “Morning.”
“Mor-,” I began, but my voice felt husky. I coughed to clear my throat. “Morning.”
He swung himself out of bed and joined me on the floor, keeping right near my side. Like he had been for the past week and a half or so. Since “that” night with Grapevine--and time spent after doing nothing but writing practice while the B-grade reporters got some front-page space--he’d started to seem . . . closer. Maybe jealousy, if Joya’s talks about “stallions and their pride” were to be believed. Not that I minded.
“Today’s the day,” Sterling began in monotone. He walked over to my room’s big dresser, which had all of our assorted gear hanging off of it. “My airship leaves in two hours . . .”
“Yeah, I know,” I said . . . bitterly? Was that the word to describe it?
“I’ll only be gone a week,” he reminded me.
“I know, but still,” I said. “Do you really have to leave so soon? So soon after . . . after-”
“After we’ve been acting like an actual couple?” he suggested.
“Something like that.”
He grabbed a waiting suit-vest off of a hanger and began to put it on. He gently did up every clasp until it fit snugly around him. “Well . . . this is just something that can’t be avoided. Not at this stage.” He tried to smile. “But hey, look at it this way: once I get back, we can both take that trip to Las Pegasus for the expo.”
“Yeah, that thing you keep talking about,” I said. “What is it, again?”
“It’s basically a big inventor’s convention,” he replied, “but it’s all very competitive; all the inventors are trying to get grants and stuff.”
“Sounds like lots of fun.”
“More than you’d think. And that’s why I need to take this trip; if I don’t get to Baltimare and get the final parts to assemble the project, then I’ll have nothing to show at the expo.”
I sighed. “Yeah, I know, but still . . . I’m gonna worry about you.”
Sterling laughed and draped a hoof across my shoulders. “Worry about me?” he said. “Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”
“And why would it be?” I said lightly.
We both knew the answer to that one, though. Both of our eyes were drawn again to the dresser, to the top drawer. I opened it like it beckoned to me, or maybe it was just to reassure myself it was still there. Sure enough, the glass vial full of Doctor Chemiker’s serum sat in its little black box that somehow seemed to expel all light away from it. Sterling had built it for me.
I’d told him, of course! How could I not? I couldn’t keep a secret like that from him . . . and besides, in some ways, having two ponies who knew made it easier to keep the secret somehow. Maybe it was the knowledge that it was just as much of a burden on him as on me. I didn’t like to put too much thought into that subject.
“Still there,” I said.
“You sound like you wish it weren’t.”
“Why shouldn’t I sound like that?” I replied. “I didn’t choose to get picked to be Doctor Chemiker’s legacy . . . I never asked for this.”
Sterling used the hoof already around my shoulders to pull me in a little tighter. “I don’t think anypony’s ever asked for their destiny or legacy or whatever it is . . . they just kind of have it shoved at them.”
“I guess you’re right.” I gingerly shut the drawer and tucked away that problem for later. I also grabbed Joya’s latest fashion experiment that she’d given me to “advertise”. It was like she’d taken the tunic from a few weeks ago and stripped it down to what amounted to a large cape, but colored crimson. The camera bag hung on a drawer knob next to it, so I put them both on.
“But you can at least see why I’d be worried?” he said.
“Yeah,” I said, “but really, I’ll be fine. I’ll have Grapevine here, after all, and Joya and whoever else seems to show up whenever we’re on a case.”
I thought I saw Sterling grimace at the mention of Grapevine. Maybe Joya’s jealousy theory was right after all. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing. If every time Sterling got jealous it caused him to hang around me more, I wasn’t going to complain.
“But isn’t she part of the problem?” Sterling said after a moment. True to form, he followed up with, “I mean, you’re not exactly safe around her. In fact, being around Grapevine seems to be the most dangerous thing you can do in this city.”
I shrugged. “But we always come out of it okay.” Quietly, I added, “Well, most of us . . .”
Sterling pulled me around until we were facing each other, actually touching at the forehead. I guess I’d always been pretty tall for a filly, so I was about the same height as him, despite his larger stature. Somehow that fit pretty well. “Just try to stay out of trouble, okay?” he said gently.
“No promises,” I said with a wink.
He chucked. “Somehow I knew you were going to say that.” He looked around awkwardly for a second like he was trying to make a decision, then leaned in closer and kissed me. We only held together a few seconds before both pulling away and looking at anything but each other with big red spots on our faces, but . . . it was nice.
After a minute of awkward silence, I cleared my throat. “So we should probably get downstairs before you miss your ride to the airfield,” I said.
Sterling nodded vigorously. “That would probably be for the best.”
We quickly collected ourselves and moved to the door, though that just resulted in a rush of who was going to let whom through first. Eventually, we both managed to squeeze out into the hall almost side by side, apologizing the whole way. Life is nicer when somepony else is as strange as I am.
* * *
We made our way down the stairs to Joya’s front room. It was devoid of the donkey herself, so it was still just the two of us. Even then, Sterling’s gait became more unbalanced as we approached the ground floor, and he began to draw away from me. It was only very slightly, but still noticeable.
Not that this was the first time I had noticed it. Sure, when he was with me he was still the kind of awkward yet sporadic stallion that I’d come to like when he was around me, but when around others . . . not so much. I was still trying to decide if it was me who brought out the more confident side of him or others who made it hide. And which explanation I was more comfortable with.
The door burst open and Joya came flooding through, panting heavily and wearing a plain black coat. “Finally got the last of your luggage loaded!” she said to Sterling.
“L- Last?” he said. “I only packed one suitcase . . . the parts and stuff I went ahead and shipped by train.”
Joya smiled and rolled her eyes. “Well of course you only packed one suitcase for you,” she said. “But I’ve been talking with a stallion out in Baltimare who owns a big department store, and said he would be interested in seeing some of my samples!”
“So then why so much luggage?” I said, peering out the open door. The waiting yellow steamcar was practically bulging with bags; both the trunk and backseat were filled to bursting,
“Well, I decided to send him a sample of everything!” Joya said with a bright smile.
Sterling just sort of half-smiled while the cab driver mashed one hoof on his horn. “Hey, I don’t have all day!” we could hear him call.
“That’s, uh, my signal to leave . . . I think,” Sterling said. He nodded to Joya, then turned to me. “I guess I’ll be going now,” he said softly.
I smiled. “I’ll miss you.”
He returned the gesture and started to lean his face in close, but then caught sight of Joya and stopped short. Instead, he settled for a hug and then padded out the door and into the waiting car. It drove off with a squeal of its rubber tires. I sighed as I watched it go.
“He still has the thing about being around other ponies?” Joya asked.
I nodded. “Seems like it. Ah, well . . . he’ll grow out of it someday, right?”
“Would you really want him to?”
“Uh, well-”
Joya winked. “But that’s neither here nor there, is it?” She walked over to a wooden table against the wall, which sat underneath a shiny telephone. I still wasn’t comfortable with using the thing, despite Joya’s attempts to teach me. Eventually, she had just taken to writing any messages I received down on a piece of paper, much like the one she grabbed from the table now.
“Orders for me?” I said.
“Yep, just came in this morning. You’ve got a new assignment.”
“A new assignment on the same day Sterling leaves?” I said. “Sounds like a pretty big coincidence.”
“Or your friend could have just mentioned to Ornate that you would be doing nothing but moping once Sterling left . . .”
I opened my mouth to protest, then shut it. Okay, maybe I was planning to do a little moping, but so what? It would have only been one, maybe two days tops. Or three. Probably. Just how long would have depended on how long it took for Grapevine to drag me out of bed on some new assignment, but now it appeared that Joya beat her to the punch.
“Alright, so what’s the assignment?” I said in defeat.
“It doesn’t say,” she answered.
“Then what does it say?”
She held up a hoof to keep me quiet. I expected her to speak, but she didn’t. Or, at least, not immediately after. She looked at the clock, then down at the paper, and repeat this for several minutes. I started to tap my hoof against the floor impatiently before she finally inhaled and said, “The note says, ‘Knock, knock.’”
“What is that supposed to-” I began, but was interrupted by two quick knocks on the door. I grimaced, and walked over to the door, figuring it to be something Grapevine would consider “quirky”. Though it certainly didn’t seem like something she would normally do.
Of course, as it turned out, it wasn’t. I swung open the door to reveal two familiar faces that were certainly not Grapevine.
“So did Joya get the message?” Starshine said excitedly.
Ivory stood over her, and snickered. “She must have called at least twenty times, well into the night. I’m surprised you didn’t hear the ringing.”
I felt my face redden. “Must have been, uh, busy.”
“Yeah, well, nopony cares about that,” Starshine said quickly. She smiled and almost seemed to be bouncing on her hooves. “What you should care about is why we are here.”
“To bring me to Ornate . . . ?”
Her smile got on even wider. “Nope, we are your assignment!”
I turned and looked at Ivory questioningly. He shrugged his broad shoulders, causing his wings to ruffle a little bit. “It’s true. Ornate gave me a call just yesterday.”
“But how does that even-”
Ivory glanced at the clock and interrupted me, “We don’t have time to talk about that here; I’ll explain on the way. We need to get going.” Starshine gave an honest nod in confirmation.
I waved goodbye to Joya and quickly followed them out the door, wondering just what I had gotten myself into. Again.
* * *
Fall seemed closer than it had before once I was out on the streets. The sky seemed just a little more hazel behind the increased cloud cover, and strong breezes blew between the buildings of West Fillydelphia, angling off the skyscrapers back downtown.
“So what exactly is this assignment that you’re rushing me out on?” I asked. “And that Starshine seems so excited about.” Seeing me look at her, Starshine tried to hide her beaming smile and not hop from hoof to hoof.
“I believe it would be better if we showed you,” Ivory said.
“Alright,” I said, “where do we walk?”
Starshine sniffed dismissively. “You say that like walking is worth anything.” She snapped her wings out, letting the sound of metal sliding on metal echo across the empty early morning street. Ivory obligingly spread his wings as well.
I looked back at my crimson cape and that there were, in fact, two slits to accommodate my wings. I gave a silent thanks to Joya and stuck them through, spreading them in the open air. They felt good to be out once again, after being tucked away for some time.
“Where exactly are we going?” I asked.
“Just follow me,” Ivory said lightly, “and try to keep up.” He leapt into the sky, flapping to gain altitude. Being a hippogriff, his body was much larger than a pony’s, and so his wings were too. Starshine looked positively small when she flew up beside him. I flapped my wings for a moment to test them, then rose into the air with them.
As soon as I had joined them, Ivory just as quickly launched himself toward the middle of the city, both his pair of talons and pair of hooves trailing beneath him. Starshine glanced at me and set out too, while I tried to stay up with both of them.
It may have been on my account, but we ended up not flying much more than ten feet or so above the tops of buildings, and at a speed comfortable enough that I could at least keep up with Starshine, though Ivory continuously stayed in the lead. It was mostly just a straight path toward downtown, so it at least wasn’t too hard to follow him.
Starshine glided up beside me. “So how easy is it to fly in that cape?” she said.
“It’s not a cape,” I said. “Joya called it a ‘light cloak’ or something like that.”
Starshine gave a funny at my backside, then back at me. “It’s red, it clasps around your neck, and it flaps behind you . . . it’s totally a cape.”
“Whatever.” I shook my head. “So when is Grapevine going to show up, anyway? Are we meeting her there? She still has my camera bag, after all.”
“Well your camera’s already there waiting for us, but . . .” She paused. “Grapevine’s not coming.”
“What do you mean, not coming? She’s my partner.”
Starshine rubbed the back of her neck. “Remember how she’s been showing you how to write? Well, Ornate thought that, with her recommendation, that you had enough experience to try something out on your own.”
My eyes widened. “So I get to write my own story?”
“Not exactly. You get to take notes on the story, but Grapevine is still going to write the full story once she’s done with her own investigation; something with Marshmallow back in The Burb.”
My breath started to come in quicker as I thought about it. I had my own assignment! This was . . . this was big. Everything I’d wanted when coming to the stupid city in the first place. It ached a little that Grapevine--my safety net for so long--wasn’t here with me or the one to tell me, but it was still great. Even the task of having to share the story with Ivory and Starshine was- . . . wait . . .
“Hey, since when have you been taking orders from Ornate?” I said. “You don’t even work for the paper.”
She grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, about that . . . you know how you and Grapevine stayed away from the Chronicler office to focus on your writing all last week? Well, while you were gone, Ornate thought that he could use some new blood, so . . .”
“So you’re my partner now?”
“No, no,” she said, “I’m more of Ivory’s partner, really. But Ornate did say I should keep an eye on you since Grapevine wouldn’t be able to.”
“Sounds like him,” I said glumly. “But what about the Weather Corps? I thought you were still trying to get back in.”
“I would like to,” she said, “but I need an actual, paying job right now, Minty. And the Chronicler was hiring, so I took a shot.”
Before I could reply, I heard a voice above me say, “Done giving her the morning exposition?” I looked up to see Ivory gliding above us. I let out a frightened “eep” at the sight of him getting so close without us even noticing.
“Y- Yeah, she did,” I said, “but nothing about our actual assignment.”
Ivory smirked. “Good, because this is really something you’ll need to see.” With that, he soared back to his position in front of us. I gulped and kept following behind him while Starshine sped ahead to match his speed.
Pretty soon we were downtown, and flying between tall buildings. I fought to follow Ivory’s winding path around the skyscrapers as best I could without knocking into any overly-important buildings. Despite that, once or twice my hooves scraped a brick surface or glass window, eliciting shouts from the ponies inside. Soon, however, we were past the financial and business areas, and still going strong.
I’d seen the downtown slums before, from afar, but never had I flown over or near them. They were on the other side of the city from West Fillydelphia, for one, and much more dangerous than Joya’s--and mine now, I supposed--home district, for another. Whereas West Fillydelphia was at least as slummy in its rows of tenements, it fostered a camaraderie among those working poor that I’d witnessed in Joya and her neighbors. Stories from the downtown shanty towns, however, were much different. Stories about gangs and revenge crimes and such that sprang up from too many poor packed into too tight an area that none of them wanted to be in. And we were flying right into the middle of it. Joy.
Ivory began to circle around one particular block of low-income housing, and eventually settled down on one roof mottled with grime and rust on the aging machines on top. A small coal boiler stood on one side of the concrete roof, but looked to have aged well beyond its working life. Despite that, it continued to hum with life almost in spite of itself.
I landed without doing any damage to myself or anyone around me, while Starshine rocketed to the roof, just barely stopping herself before impacting into the hard concrete. Somehow, though, she came down lighter than me.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“We’re in the Downtown Slum,” Ivory said, “One of the worst areas of the city due to-”
“Yeah, yeah, I got that,” I said. “I meant what building we’re on.”
Ivory closed his mouth and looked annoyed, so Starshine happily took over. “You’ll see!” she chirped.
There was a door on the roof that led to a staircase that wound down the inside of the building. Starshine glided down the center rather than hoofing it, but I wasn’t ready to take a chance and Ivory was too large to do anything but walk. Suffice to say, Starshine looked mightily annoyed when we got to the bottom a full five minutes after her. “What took you two so long?” she said.
“Don’t . . . even . . . ask . . .” I panted. I swept some sweat off my brow and straightened up in front of the newer door. Unlike the one on the roof, this one was cold metal, and swung open almost silently on its hinges. It reminded me of a bank vault: something to keep the residents in. The green-painted hall that Starshine led us down didn’t help that perception much. All the doors looked heavy and the bare bulbs hanging over our heads constantly flickered on and off. We didn’t stop walking until we reached the very end of the hall, and a door painted a few shades green . . . -er than the walls that had no room number. A single brass doorknob was the only marking it had.
Starshine knocked once, then three times in rapid succession. At first there was no reply, then the sound of locks being undone came from the other side. The door eventually swung open obligingly, though who exactly was inside was still a mystery. It wasn’t until Ivory and I had followed Starshine in that the door shut and revealed the pony whose home we had been led into.
He wasn’t very tall: just half a head taller than Starshine at most. His coat was brown, but so light that it was more of an off-white, which helped accent his dark-brown-almost-black gavel cutie mark. Though it was cut short, his mane was just as messy and pink as Starshine’s. Standing next to each other, they looked too similar for it to be any sort of coincidence.
Sure enough, Starshine introduced him as, “Meet my big brother, Tipped Scales. He’s a lawyer for the inner city courts. He hasn’t lost a case yet.”
Scales smiled and nodded to us. “You might know me better as Common Law around these parts. Or just ‘Law’ if you prefer,” he said in a voice not all too different from Starshine’s, if more snide.
“So if you’ve never lost a case,” Ivory said, “then why are you living here?”
He brought up a good point. The apartment was really more of a corner loft. There was a bed, a tiny kitchen, and a desk overflowing with papers shoved into one corner below a hammock. More papers filled just about every inch of the floor, so much that it was almost like snow.
“Well, you see, I haven’t exactly won a case either,” Scales said.
“How does that even work?” I asked.
“My expertise is getting cases thrown out,” he explained. “If a client needs to get a case out of the courts as quick as possibly, I’m the pony they call. Problem is, it doesn’t pay well.” He gestured to the loft around him. “Which you probably already noticed.”
“But, all the other lawyers in town are scared of him,” Starshine said quickly. “Isn’t that right?”
His smile seemed forced, but I couldn’t tell if Starshine noticed. Probably not, from her expression. “That’s right,” he said.
I coughed. “If you don’t mind me asking,” I said, “why are we here?”
Starshine walked over to the little alcove beneath the hammock, where the desk lay. Now that I noticed it, the books and papers piled on the desk didn’t have anything to do with law. Instead, they were about writing, photography, typography . . . even office etiquette. Starshine grabbed a very familiar camera bag from beneath the desk’s hutch. She tossed it to me, but it felt much lighter.
I opened the bag, and saw inside that the only items it held were a brand new notepad and a couple pencils. “What gives?” I said, trying to keep my voice from rising. “Where’s my camera?”
Starshine pulled that out from under the desk as well, but sheepishly put it around her neck. Her. Neck. “Ornate suggested that I keep it so you don’t, uh, get distracted or nothing . . .” she said. “And I was to keep it at my- uh, my brother’s house for safekeeping.”
We just silently looked at each other for a few moments until Ivory cleared his throat and said, “We really should get going if we want to get there on time . . .”
“Yeah, yeah, great idea,” Scales chimed in. “I’m late to work enough as it is, so it might be best if you guys and gals clear out.”
I watched as Starshine readily trotted away toward Ivory, with my camera hanging around her neck. My camera . . . hanging around her neck. Inwardly, I groaned. Today was just going to be a whole mix of emotions.
* * *
Back on the street, Ivory again took to silence as he led us around. Not that I had any problem with it. The streets were even dirtier--and smellier--here than in West Fillydelphia, and the looks passing ponies gave us, when they even bothered to pick their heads up, could only be described as venomous.
It was a relief when we made it to a deserted trolley stop in front of a yet another set of run-down rowhouses. I shifted uneasily while we waited.
“Something bothering you?” Ivory asked.
“Yeah, just . . . this place,” I said. “I mean, I knew West Fillydelphia could be pretty bad, but not like this. Has it always been this way?”
Ivory nodded his head slowly. “Just about. This area used to be mostly parks and such . . . but then came the parasprites, and everything changed. Most of the city’s new homeless population were put here in what they called ‘temporary housing’.
“But even after Pullmare came, they remained in these neighborhoods. The new homes that our old mayor brought were either too expensive, or already given to the new immigrants. All the old families were kept here, in this little slice of Fillydelphia. And here they stay, ignored by our beloved Princess and her talk of freedom for everypony.”
I stared at him. “I didn’t know you felt so . . . strongly about that.”
“You don’t know me very well, then,” he replied. “You grow up in a place like this, and you get to be very bitter about those who reply to your cries of ‘Save us!’ with a simple ‘No.’”
“It’s true,” Starshine said, butting in. “I wasn’t always on Serenity . . . I grew up here, and life isn’t easy.”
Suddenly, I had a newfound appreciation for my parents’ farm. Sure, we’d been just as poor--and maybe a little more starving in the winter--but it had at least offered security. Independence. Looking around the slums, I didn’t see any of that. No way out.
My dreary thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of a battered trolley. Various insignias and improper words had been strewn across it in a multitude of colors of paint. Inside the trolley itself was a large group of ponies who looked to be in about the same condition as the car they rode in. They gave us mean stares as the trolley came to a stop.
I was about to ask Ivory if maybe we should wait for the next trolley to arrive, but Starshine almost gleefully hopped aboard with a big smile on her face. Then, to my surprise, a chorus of “Starshine!” rang throughout the car’s interior. The formerly-menacing ponies swarmed around her like a giant group hug.
When Ivory stepped on, however, the mood quickly became one of respect. Naturally, when I stepped on and the trolley took off, it was back to hostility.
“Who’s the girl?” one of them snarled.
“This is Minty Flower,” Ivory said, “she’s with us. She’s doing a report on this story for the Chronicler.”
“The Chronicler, huh?” the same stallion said. “Well, if you’re part of the paper that ran the story on that Pullmare, then you can’t be all bad.” He stuck out a hoof. “Name’s Red Rover, and this is my crew: Rover’s Rebels.” The red stallion with a mane as white as the moon introduced each of his “crew” in turn, though I didn’t even remember most of the names. The only pony who stuck out, at least in my mind, was a blue filly named Scout who stuck close to Rover’s side. Oddly enough, all of their cutie marks were covered in tape the shape of an “x”, but I decided to not ask why.
“So has ol’ Ivory filled you in on what’s going down today?” Rover asked me.
I shook my head.
He smiled. “What you are about to witness, Minty, is the start of something new. Something big.” He leaned against the window and stared at the tenements that whizzed past. “This morning is going to be the largest gang meeting in the history of Fillydelphia, and we get to take part of it.”
“The meeting of the two gangs,” Starshine explained.
“Two gangs?” I asked. “That doesn’t exactly sound like a lot . . .”
“Two gangs, but dozens of crews,” Rover said. “I have my Rebels, but there’s more showing up from all over the city. The Dead Rabbits from Five Points, the Saints from Third Street . . . even the Warriors from South Filly are coming. But together, we’re all part of the Basterds.”
“The Bastards?”
“Basterds,” Ivory corrected. He smirked. “The children downtown Fillydelphia didn’t plan for and hasn’t ever wanted.”
“Ah,” I said, turning to Rover. “So who’s this other gang, then?”
“The Neighponese,” Scout answered quietly. “They call themselves the Royales . . . and they’re much more disciplined than we are. Their leader, Sakamochi, keeps a tight grip on the whole organization.” She looked away. “If they were more aggressive, they would have run us out a long time ago . . .”
“Yeah, well, not anymore,” one of the gang members said excitedly. “Not after this meeting!”
“Yeah, the Boss is gonna be there!” said another.
“He’s gonna solve everything!”
“What’s the meeting going to be about?” I said. “And who’s ‘the Boss?’”
“That’s just something you’re gonna have to find out,” Rover told me.
I quieted down and obligingly waited near the front of the trolley as we continued on. We were approaching South Fillydelphia, toward even older parts of the city. As we drew on, I began to notice that every trolley behind or ahead of us on the same track were filled to the brim with more gang members. Some wore colored jackets, or headbands. In fact, I noticed all but the Rebels wore some sort of clothing.
Some of the gang members looked nervously at the other trolleys. “We’re too exposed,” the said. “We’re gonna get in trouble before we can even get there.”
“Pipe down,” Rover snapped. “Just be cool until we’re there. Nopony would dare defy the Boss and bring weapons to this.”
Some of the gang members still reached for their hips until they looked as if they remembered something wasn’t there.
Eventually, the trolley came to a rest in front of an old concrete stadium. It looked to have long been overgrown with vegetation, as vines ran up every side and through every crack. “What is this place?” I said.
“She sure asks a lot of questions, doesn’t she?” Rover said.
Ivory laughed and answered for me, “This is the old Fillydelphia amphitheatre from before the parasprite attack. Most of the ponies who lived around here packed up and left, so ruins like this are left everywhere . . . almost as many as up in the Heights.”
“Wow,” I said. “Didn’t know this city had so much history.”
“You wouldn’t, farm girl.”
Whether his tone was light or derisive, I couldn’t tell. At any rate, it didn’t matter since we all piled out and moved into the amphitheatre. Ivory and Rover jointly led the way, and we seated ourselves on a platform above one of the tunnel entrances. From our seats, we could see the whole of the stadium as well as the neat concrete pillar in the middle of a stage overgrown with tall grass. On the pillar stood two ponies side by side. Each wore a cloak in all black, which hid every distinguishing detail from view. Which was the point, I assumed.
The crowd was loud as ponies continued to file in, but was hushed when both of the stallions on the pillar raised a hoof. The crowds had shifted into the two main groups of gangs, and then into their own separate little crews. The Neighponese, as Scout had said, were much more disciplined as they sat together while the Basterds shouted insults to each other and passed around idle threats like it was nothing.
Both of the stallions on the pillar stepped forward, though the one known as the Boss seemed to be the only who would speak. “Can . . . you . . . dig it?!” he cried to the waiting crowd. Cheers erupted for a full minute before they settled enough for him to speak again in the same raspy tone.
“Greetings, delegates from the gangs of of Fillydelphia,” he said. “We’ve got reps from all over town, here: Kensington, South Filly, Central, North, Even Oak Heights.” In turn, shouts went up from the representative crew from each district. “And not just from the Basterds--but from the Royales too!
“And do you know why we’re all gathered here today?” From the talks between the Rebels, it seemed like most of them did, but they kept obediently silent. “Because today,” the Boss continued, “today is a historical day. Today is the day that the Royales and Basterds joined together . . . in an alliance--an even alliance, split right down the middle: fifty-fifty!”
Murmurs ran through the crowd, and looks were shot back and forth between the two gangs. Nothing escalated to physical confrontation, though. Rover made sure to quiet his crew before the Boss spoke again.
“And why, you may ask, are we forming an alliance, after so many years fighting each other for territory?” He threw back the hood of his cloak, revealing a stallion with an alabaster coat and stunningly black mane. “Because it has made us weak! These gangs were formed to help our brothers and sisters who had been cast out by Equestrian society. To form bonds that nopony, nopony could break.
“But all of this fighting has only made us weaker! And now, our greatest enemy is trying to drive us out for good!” He paused for effect. “The Caballo family!”
Sharp exclamations of anger spread throughout the crowd, thrown in any direction the mare or stallion thought the enemy might be. Meanwhile, I was lost once again.
“Who’s the Caballo family?” I whispered to Starshine.
“The most dangerous family in the city,” she replied. “They were originally set up in Manehattan, but started to spread out a few years ago. Now they’ve set up in Las Pegasus, Baltimare, and even here, and they’re ruthless.”
“Must be bad if two huge gangs are teaming up to fight them,” I said.
“Now you’re getting it.”
The Boss called for quiet again, and it was given to him. “Now that you’ve heard what I have to say,” he boomed, “it is time to hand this talk over to my associate, Mr. Sakamochi, who will tell us exactly how we can work together and beat these Caballos.”
The hooded figure beside the Boss strode to the center of the platform, but did not speak. Instead, he remained silent as the moment got more and more uncomfortable. Ponies started to shift in their seats and talk softly to one another.
Finally, the figure raised a hoof, which had something in it. We were farther away from the stage, so when ponies in the front row started to gasp, I didn’t understand why for a few seconds. When I did, however, I wish I hadn’t. The figure wasn’t holding up just any object, but a stallion’s head!
With yells of fright and anger springing up around him, the figure threw down his hood to reveal a muscular, ebony face. Before the Boss could make a move, he quickly drew a shiny, silver revolver on the gang leader.
“You want to see how you can overthrow the Caballos, huh?” he said in an accent almost identical to Joya’s, tinted in Cabbalian. “Well, this would be a good start.” As quick as he had said the words, he pressed the gun to Boss’ temple and fired three shots into the stallion’s brain. Sprays of blood arced through the air as the Boss’ corpse plunged off the pillar and onto the grass below.
Panic had started to rise among the gathered ponies, but it was too late. With no weapons or order, we were all sitting ducks. The situation got even worse as the figure spoke. “And now, the defeat of these two pathetic gangs is almost complete . . .” he said. With a beckon of his hoof, ponies clad in black appeared at the top of the amphitheatre seating, armed with snub-nosed rifles that had black ammo drums slung beneath them.
The figure on the stage laughed and kicked Sakamochi’s head like it was a ball into the crowd. “You’re all property of the Caballo family now; anyone who attempts to leave will be shot on sight!”
Stats
Page generated in 0.027 seconds
Total duration
1,095 users online
2,089,744 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
The story is coming along at a nice pace.
cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/anchorman-well-that-escalated-quickly.jpg
Ah, gangs. No city is complete without such colorful riffraff. And, it seems you've brought the Mafia into this, too! Just another day in Fillydelphia...
1377381 My thoughts too.
Heads keep rollin rollin rollin.
Well... not only do I see the Warriors reference and Saint's Row reference I swear there was at least another gang movie related reference some where in there.
Also, Minty... WHY ARE YOU NOT WRITING THIS S*** DOWN! DO YOUR JOB!
1379736
This may be the reference you're looking for.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ae/Gangs_of_New_York_Poster.jpg/220px-Gangs_of_New_York_Poster.jpg
1379776
Never seen it.
I should though
Woah, didn't see that ending coming.
Thanks for the Saints reference... XD
Just telling you peoples, he added that for me :3
1392221
Yes, it is. Did you catch the reference, then?
This is amazing, why doesn't this have more readers?
screaming internally for 'MOAR' 
Read through 1-19 and still I feel the voices
1406861
On a side note, I heavily approve of your profile picture.
You hear the voices too?!
I think it should be "without us even noticing", not a "with us even noticing."
otherwise, nice chapter. stuff.
Rover's Rebels-> Raynor's Raiders?
Saints Row?
Also, I never asked for this.
Huh. Can't say I didn't see that coming, between the no-weapons treaty and the full-body cloaks for the gang leaders...
On the other hoof, Common Law is a pretty interesting character; I'd like to see more of him at some point.
Ha ha the third street saints, better be careful they might end up the most powerful gang in the city.
Who called it? Uh-huh, that's right.
You mean she's keeping the Chemiker formula in a drawer? Excellent hiding place, Minty. Then again, I guess if it's out in the open who'd think it important?
Funny, for a girl who loves that camera, she's really good at misplacing it.
...whoa. All this time I thought of this story as generally rather small-time, and all of a sudden you notched it up to the big leagues. For the first time since Minty's beating from Pullmare, you've got my attention. I felt a genuine horror when I realized what was actually happening.
Uffffff!!!!!!
Grapevine, we need you!!!!!