In old Manehattan

by Askre


Chapter 5. Barricade.

Chapter 5
 
Barricade drummed a hoof on the arm of the chair he sat in the living room of his apartment. The unicorn stared forward with a heavy frown on his face, his eyes didn’t really lock onto anything, they were rather distant. If they could mirror what was going in his head, they would show snow and a large mountain with a jaw like peak encircled by shadow and smoke.
 
“PRIVATE!” his panicked voice screamed in his mind as a memory passed through, causing Barricade to outwardly sneer a bit.

“I knew you were stupid, Barricade, but seriously, this is just ridiculous.” A dark voice growled in his mind. The unicorn closed his eyes, shivering slightly.
 
“You actually think you can have it both ways. You want to have normal family life and at the same time behave like you’re some criminal big shot.” The same dark voice mocked him.
 
“Tell me Barricade, are you really living in the paradise you envisioned for yourself?”
 
“Two of your daughters now hate you and want nothing to do with you anymore, you are holed up in some run down part of a city where you barely manage to make ends meet even if you run that gym and help running that apartment complex for your bedmate’s father.”
 
“I brought you a beer.” A female voice shut down the dark mocking voice playing in the unicorn’s head.
 
Barricade’s eyes focused again and he glanced to his side. Barbell stood there, offering him a can of Manehattan Gold. The stallion glared at the drink for a moment before looking away.
 
“I don’t want it,” he growled.
 
“You don’t want a beer, you?” Barbell was almost stunned at hearing that.
 
“You heard me!” Barricade snapped and turned in his chair so his back would face the mare.
 
Barbell watched the backside of the stallion for a second before sighing in frustration, she left the beer can on the coffee table just in case her bedmate would change his mind, before she stomped out of the living room,
 
It hadn’t gone unnoticed in the gang or Hoofington in general that the leader had changed. Few months ago he had gone to the Crystal Empire to see to his estranged brother, who had apparently been injured and was hospitalized there. When Barricade returned few days later, he was a changed pony.
 
Barbell had been the first to notice, her lover had started to have powerful nightmares. He would wake up screaming and thrashing in the bed, but he constantly refused to say what they were about. He also absolutely refused to talk about his trip to the Empire, he would pale up if it was mentioned.
 
Gang activity took a strange turn as well, any activity that knowingly would break the law stopped. Pressing the locals for protection money stopped, Barricade even stopped collecting money ponies owed him. If anyone worked up a nerve to ask, the unicorn would just growl. “What’s the bloody point.”
 
What they did suddenly start to do was chasing out those they knew were doing something illegal. Any minor gangs still surviving in the Hoofington area disappeared or were forced into the fringes.
 
Nobody in the Barricade gang really minded. Majority had minor jobs here and there and some where employees at the gym. Most figured that the boss was just trying to vie for some more respectable clients, clients that could bring in some more money than squeezing the local ponies.
 
Yet those in the inner circle knew that was not the case. Barricade was behaving downright odd, muttering about shadows and darkness when he thought nobody heard him, or lamenting about how whatever he did was just pointless. Barbell would also sometimes find him in the living room like she did moments earlier, sitting and staring off into the distance.
 
This is getting crazy, she thought as she entered the kitchen and saw Cara fixing herself a glass of soda.
 
“Hey! You’re grounded, get to your room!” the mare snapped at the pegasus.
 
“Seriously? I can’t even get myself something to drink?” the teen filly snarled and stomped off towards the entrance of the kitchen, leaving her drink behind.
 
Barbell stopped the girl before she could get out by putting a front leg on the doorframe, blocking her path. The earth pony sighed deeply before looking apologetically at the girl. “Sorry, it’s just your father, he’s driving me nuts right now.”
 
“Tell me about it,” Cara grunted and rolled her eyes.
 
“Get your drink, sit down by the table,” Barbell said and removed her leg from the entrance. The filly grunted and returned to the kitchen counter to fetch her glass.
 
Barbell walked to the fridge and rescued another can of beer from it, she turned around, using her hind leg to close it as she walked towards the table. Cara was now sitting there sipping her drink, eyeing the mare half curiously.
 
“So, are you going to finally tell us what happened to your cheek?” Barbell asked as she sat down, opening the can while she waited for some form of a reply.
 
“Nothing happened, I just hit it,” Cara muttered and now glanced away.
 
“Cara, you know better than try those horseapples with me, was it that boy you think we don’t know you have been hanging out with for the past few weeks?” the mare asked, noting immediately how Cara shifted uneasily in her seat.
 
“How many know?” the filly asked unsure.
 
“Goldie has seen you few times meet him at the train station, Blazer also told us he saw the two of you,” Barbell responded and sipped from her can, chuckling inwardly when seeing the shocked look on the girl. “Seriously girl, you think your dad doesn’t have us watch you like griffins over their treasure.”
 
“But why did dad…”
 
“Oh he didn’t know, we didn’t tell him. Because we knew he would blow his top, like it or not, you are his precious little spitfire,” Barbell interrupted Cara, grinning a little at the indignant snort from the teenager.
 
“We wanted first to make sure how things went, we know Trail and that he used to be in a small gang we chased off. However, now you need to convince me that I didn’t make a mistake keeping this silent from your father,” the mare lowered her voice a little and glanced at the kitchen entrance. Nobody was there, so she returned her attention to Cara.
 
“Dad will tear him apart.” Cara frowned and stared into her drink.
 
“Did he hit you?” Barbell asked with added sharpness in her voice.
 
“No… well not on purpose, he didn’t see me, it was an accident,” Cara claimed and now looked straight at the mare. “He was arguing with a friend of his, flailing his hooves, I walked too close.”
 
Barbell frowned a little in concern, this still didn’t add up to her, but the mare wasn’t sure how much she could pressure the girl to talk. Cara could be just as stubborn as her father and was quite often ready to dig her hooves in on certain matters.
 
“Look Cara, your father loves you, you are the only one of his kids he gets to see because you live with him. He’s burned the bridges with your sisters and their mothers and he just can’t work up a nerve to rebuild them. He just doesn’t want you to make the same mistakes he did,” the earth pony started to tell the girl, her voice now more solemn.
 
“He also knows he is a jerk and he recognizes other jerks. He knows too well what a pony like that can do to another pony. He does regret what he did with your mother and the mothers of your sisters, he is just too scared to make amends with them. He doesn’t want the same thing to happen to you, that some jerk like he was leaving you in the ditch after having his fun with you,” she continued and shook her head sadly.
 
“Trail isn’t that bad,” Cara grunted.
 
“Your dad sees himself when he was younger in that colt, he sees the same arrogant selfish jerk, so please give him a little break about this. I don’t know what happened to him after he went to the Crystal Empire, but something has snapped. I don’t know if somepony beat some sense into him or has driven him off the edge, but your father is suffering right now and he gets angry at things that remind him of the past,” Barbell told her.
 
Cara didn’t reply just sipped her drink. The mare drank from her own can too, thinking over what she had just told the girl. The last bit was probably the strangest of it all, but Barbell could swear by it, anything that reminded Barricade of his past behavior seemed to anger him now. Anger him or scare him.
 
They both looked up when there was a knock on the apartment door, Barbell rose to see who it was. Barricade wouldn’t answer it if he was still in his funk in the living room. The earth pony left the kitchen, headed for the entrance to the apartment and opened it. Outside was her brother, Blue. The large blue earth stallion seemed to be in a hurry.
 
“Hey Barbell, is the boss in? We have a situation,” he declared while walking in.
 
“Living room, what kind of situation?” Barbell asked, arching her brow.
 
“There are two mares going around Hoofington looking for some kids, they aren’t locals,” her brother answered.
 
“Describe them,” Barricade growled as he suddenly stood in the entrance to the living room.
 
Barbell started a little bit at seeing him there so suddenly. Blue, however, wasn’t fazed and started to describe the two mares. Barricade showed at first no change in expression when his second in command described a light crimson mare with a sunflower cutie mark, but he started to look concerned when the other mare was described as orange with apple cutie marks and wearing a Stetson.
 
“They must be looking for the kids that were bothering Snowy,” Barricade muttered. “Didn’t I tell Rain to send them to Hooflyn again?”
 
The unicorn started towards the entrance, pushing past Blue, but hesitated and looked at Barbell. He turned to face the mare and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Sorry… uh thanks for the beer.”
 
With that done Barricade was about to return to the entrance when he spotted Cara peek out of the kitchen.
 
“Cara! You are grounded. Go to your room!” he snapped and pointed in the general directions of the bedrooms.
 
“I was getting a drink!” his daughter growled.
 
“Fine, get a drink, but then straight to your room!” the unicorn ordered, ignoring the exasperated groan coming from the pegasus.
 
Then without further delay Barricade rushed out of the apartment with Blue following him. In the hallway outside, the unicorn ordered the earth pony to get Rain Storm of the three pegasi he had been with earlier today when confronting Snow Heart. Barricade then headed downstairs to the ground floor, intending to wait for them outside.
 
Celestia was in the process of lowering the sun when Barricade stepped out of the complex and the streetlights were turning on. The unicorn looked around with a frown, wondering if the mares had been in Hoofington long looking for the girls. He cursed a bit for not ordering Rain to take them all the way home.
 
Great, Ponyville, you continue to haunt me. Punishment for that foolish stunt I tried few years back? Probably… Barricade sighed, he did not revel in the idea of meeting someone from Ponyville again, especially someone who knew how he had acted.
 
Applejack… she was the one with the farm I think, ugh her brother could probably beat Blue in a fair fight and she could probably kick my ass if she wanted to. I think I only met her once or twice, but Ponyville is a small town, everypony knows each other, she probably hates my guts for what I did to Derpy. Barricade glanced back when hearing the door open, seeing Blue and Rain Storm come walking out.
 
“Rain, you did escort the fillies to the subway, right?” the unicorn growled, the small pegasus stallion flinched a little when seeing the boss irritated.
 
“Yes, totally, I swear. I even watched the sub head off,” he claimed.
 
“Well clearly the fillies didn’t make it because two unknown mares are now here in Hoofington looking for kids. I’m willing to bet it’s those four kids they are looking for,” Barricade snorted and turned his attention to Blue. “Do you know where they are currently?”
 
“Goldie met them near Lane, they asked her about the kids, she then alerted Blazer about it who came to me. I sent Blazer to keep an eye on them discretely while I talked with you,” Blue told him.
 
Barricade immediately began walking in the direction that would take them to Hoofington Lane with the other two following. He didn’t get very far because a dark green earth pony came running, calling him by his title.
 
“Blazer, what’s news?” the unicorn asked.
 
“The mares are coming here, the orange one remembered an address on a parcel the kids were apparently going to deliver here, they asked directions and are only a block away. They know Tango,” Blazer quickly informed.
 
“Huh, the kids didn’t have a parcel, did they?” Barricade glanced at Rain who shook his head to confirm that.
 
“Blue, you’ve been home all day with your dad, did four kids come here earlier?” the unicorn looked at his second, who shook his head.
 
“Oh ya have got to be kiddin’ me!”
 
Barricade winched when hearing the voice snap across the street. Glancing in the direction he saw Applejack standing there glaring at him, with her was Sunflower who looked more unsure, clearly not liking the looks of the four stallions.
 
“Applejack.” Barricade tried to regain some composure, but deep down was very nervous as the apple-farmer crossed the street, undaunted by him or his companions.
 
“Ah hope you and yer buddies aren’t trying anything. Ah happen to know a friend lives around here and Ah’m warning you Barricade, Ah will not take kindly to ya messing with him,” the orange mare growled, glaring all kinds of sharp weaponry at the unicorn.
 
“Tango, right?” Barricade tried not to roll his eyes when Applejack narrowed her eyes even more. “He lives in this apartment complex here, that I happen to run for my friend’s father.”
 
Those news caused Applejack’s brow to rise a bit in mild surprise. Barricade glanced at his companions and decided to dismiss all of them except Rain. Then he turned his attention back to the two mares.
 
“You are looking for four kids, right?” the unicorn asked and nodded when getting hesitant positive responses from both.
 
“Look, Rain here and I met them earlier, I told Rain to send them back to Hooflyn, he even watched them board the subway train,” Barricade informed them, the pegasus grinned nervously when the mares eyed him. “But judging from you two, they never made it back.”
 
“No, they got it into their heads to deliver a parcel Ah promised to bring Tango,” Applejack grunted, she clearly didn’t trust the unicorn, however, by the tone and mannerism the mare figured he was telling the truth so far. He wasn’t acting smarmy or condescending, he was serious and she could spot concern in his eyes.
 
“When I saw the kids, they did not have a parcel. They had either finished delivering it, but if they had, you probably wouldn’t be here, so it’s a high chance it got stolen from them,” Barricade informed her.
 
“Ugh, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo would insist on looking for the thief,” Applejack groaned as she looked at Sunflower.
 
“Babs would know that would be impossible, but she might be convinced to assist,” her cousin added and shook her head.
 
“Look, why don’t we go see Tango, maybe he has seen the fillies,” Barricade suggested.
 
Applejack frowned, wondering why the unicorn was being so helpful. What little she did know of him was that he never helped unless he had something to gain from it. The mare had to admit though that they needed help from someone that knew the lay of the land.
 
She glanced at Sunflower who had relaxed a little when the two earth ponies had been dismissed. The orange mare wasn’t surprised her cousin had been a little nervous, the blue pony with the scar across his face hadn’t exactly looked very friendly and neither had the green one. The pegasus didn’t look too bad and that only left Barricade who waited for her reply.
 
“Fine, but don’t ya try anythin’, Ah’ll be watching you,” Applejack warned.
 
Barricade nodded and gestured to the mares to follow him and Rain Storm. Since they were still in front of his apartment complex they didn’t need to go far to reach the entrance. The unicorn then took them straight down the first hallway to a door on the ground floor. He knocked sharply on it.
 
It took a little while for a response and Applejack could have sworn she heard a female voice. The door opened a crack and the mare could just make out a golden eye on a white face peeking out.
 
“Ugh, what do you want now, Barricade?” Snow Heart groaned.
 
“There are mares here to see Tango, Snowy,” Barricade told her simply.
 
The door closed and they could hear the chain bolt being removed. The entrance was opened fully and Snow Heart looked outside. Her eyes widened a bit when seeing Applejack standing there.
 
“A-Applejack… what are you doing here?” she whispered startled.
 
Applejack was starting to wonder if she was going to be meeting every single pony she didn’t like much before finding her sister and her friends. The mare half expected the Flim-Flam brothers to be living down the hall. She was about to open her mouth to respond when Snow Heart seemed to realize something and gasped.
 
“I-is this about your sister and her friends? Barricade sent them away…”
 
“Hold on, you’ve seen ‘em?” Applejack interrupted the now frightened mare.
 
“At the same time I did, your sister and the other fillies bumped into Snowy here and like I said, I had Rain send them back to Hooflyn,” Barricade clarified and then did explain a bit further the brief encounter the crusaders had with him and Snow Heart.
 
“They said they were trying to find Tango, a parcel they had for him was stolen,” the unicorn mare added, shifting nervously in the door entrance.
 
“Has Tango seen them at all today?” Applejack asked, she frowned when Snow Heart shook her head.
 
“They must have jumped off at the next station, that’s still in Hoofington,” Rain Storm pointed out, that caused Barricade to scowl a bit.
 
“Don’t know why they bother to use that stop, most of the buildings near there are condemned and usually just bums hang out there, well I know some low-lives still hang around there too since I don’t bother with that part,” the unicorn grunted, then he looked at the pegasus, narrowing his eyes a little. “Doesn’t Scribbly sometimes go there?”
 
“Probably, then again, he’s all over Manehattan most of the time,” Rain chuckled a little.
 
“Scribbly?” Applejack hoped this discussion was leading closer to finding the missing kids, she was starting to get a little tired of the lack of process.
 
“Paper Scribbler, he’s a kid who lives up in Arena, the closest thing to a nice part Hoofington has. He roams Manehattan with his camera and notebook, documenting everything he sees, then he goes home and writes stories. If the girls are still in Hoofington, there is a high chance he’s seen them,” Barricade explained to her and started to walk back towards the entrance.
 
Applejack realized quickly that the unicorn intended to take them to this Paper Scribbler, she took one last glance at Snow Heart, wondering if she should say goodbye. The unicorn mare was already in the process of closing the door. Applejack decided to be polite, but the words froze on her mouth when finally getting a proper view of the other mare.
 
Is she expecting? Applejack didn’t really get a chance to ask as the white pony had closed the door again, clearly not expecting any goodbyes.
 
“Who was that, she seemed to know you,” Sunflower asked as the cousins started to follow Barricade and Rain Storm back out.
 
“Ah… Ah’ll tell you later, cousin,” Applejack muttered, right now it just suddenly didn’t feel right to be bringing up Snow Heart’s past.
 
End chapter 5