In one of the darkest parts of Manehattan, a train hissed to a stop. Steam sighed from the locomotive’s vents as the door lethargically opened up, the flickering light guiding the way to the dark streets beyond to the weary passengers aboard. That night, only one passenger disembarked at that dreary platform.
Skylar Rose stepped off the train to the platform and looked around herself. There was nopony else there. Not even a conductor or a guard to guide the passengers along. Not that she didn’t know where she was going. After only a moment of getting her bearings, Skylar was on her way.
Though she had done the walk many times over the cracked pavement and past the dull neon signs, it was made more difficult by the turmoil that raged within her. She didn’t dare go back to Ponyville for a while after what she had done. And she certainly didn’t dare to relocate her sister from Canterlot. It would seem suspicious. Questions would be asked. Too many things could go wrong.
She was getting closer. The streets were getting more disrepaired as she walked, and the sign at the crossing was missing half of its paint. At the far end of the crossing, she could see two ponies. But she could tell they weren’t on friendly terms. A unicorn was holding a knife to the neck of a hapless earth pony, who was shakily giving his wallet to his assailant. With that, the unicorn ran across the crossing toward Skylar.
It was no matter to her. It happened all the time in the city. But as the unicorn passed her, he saw a flash of metal just before the tip of his horn was sliced off.
The unicorn skidded to the ground and pulled out his knife. Sky turned her head, showing that the blade she held was at least twice as big as his. Not wishing to push his luck, the unicorn hurried away.
After her first step, Sky stepped on something and found that the unicorn had dropped the wallet from the pony he mugged. Except that the owner of the wallet was nowhere to be seen. She jostled the wallet, finding that it was filled with bits. Smirking, she stuffed it into her saddlebag.
The windows and doors were boarded up as she passed them now. In any of the homes that were inhabited, the ponies kept their lights on all through the night. From one window, a silhouetted pony watched her warily as she walked down the path, a silent sentry for those who remained.
There was a light ahead of her. One that gave her pause. A tiny light that flickered brightly, before it snuffed out. She had arrived. Swallowing her disgust, Sky walked onward toward the light.
A thin plume of smoke trickled from beneath the brim of a hat, the face of its owner hidden beneath its shadows. The only sign of life within the motionless cheap suit was the glowing end of a cigarette.
Sky walked to the stoop where the suit laid upon the concrete steps. The end of the cigarette lit up brightly, illuminating the wry smile of the avian features of the creature on the steps. The cigarette dimmed, and a cloud of smoke blew in Sky’s face.
“You late, girly,” the bird croaked. “Why ain’cha been here by mornin’ like we say?”
“I had to take care of something,” Sky said.
Smoke billowed from the beak of the bird as he scoffed cruelly.
“Sweetheart, whatsa low-grade gutter rat like you gotta get took care? You ain’t zactly runnin’ a bed n’ breakfas’ on’na side,” he said.
“It’s none of your business, jaybird! I’m here now, so what do you care?” Sky spat back.
The bird laughed more heartily, his cigarette falling from his beak and landing on its butt on the tip of his finger. Smoke poured from his mouth with each guffaw, choking Sky and making her turn her head from the bird.
“I ain’t give a damn if you here or suckin’ off stray dogs in Appleloosa. Needy’s ‘a one y’got worry about,” the bird said, twirling his cigarette between his fingers before balancing it on his thumb. “If he know you late, Verko know you late. Juss’a way o’ th’ rat to keep’a cat’s claws at bay.” He flicked his thumb and the cigarette flipped back into his beak, where it flared up and illuminated his face again. “But rats is known most’ta get them claws point at weaker rats.”
Sky didn’t dare yell or lash out. Blue Ricky was one of the few creatures that Verko seemed to value, if only for his underworld connections. She clenched her teeth as she stayed her hoof from loosening his beak from his face.
“You gonna let me in?” Sky asked.
“Heh. You soun’ ready to git what’s comin’ to ya. ‘Mon this way,” Ricky said.
He traipsed up the steps and opened the door to allow himself and Sky inside. The hall beyond was even drearier than Sky had remembered with it’s bare, dim bulb and dry-rotted floorboards.
“How you get that on you face?” Ricky asked, tapping the ash from his cigarette.
Sky gasped internally when she realized that the fight with Capper had left her with several visible cuts and bruises.
Ricky smirked as the reason for her being held up was starting to make sense.
“Fights jus’ follow ya, don’t they?” he asked.
“Fuck off. Where’s Needy?” Sky asked.
“Ain’t here. Who you fight with?”
“Forget it.”
“Not that peg’sus at the Gala? You ain’t let go, huh?”
“Look, it was fucking Grieco who looked like he was stalking foals! I just wanted to know if the unicorn knew my sister!”
Sky caught herself from exploding completely and listened for any unwanted eavesdroppers. Slowly, her ears drooped.
“You haven’t told anypony about Rosy? Have you?” she asked.
Ricky took another puff of his cigarette and shook his head, sending a spray of smoke around himself.
“The way you keep blowin’ care to th’wind, you gonna do that you’self,” he said.
“Have you told anypony!?” Sky tersely repeated.
“Not now, as ‘ey don’t need’a know,” Ricky answered, walking past Sky.
Sky followed him into the dingy living room at the end of the hall, where they found their griffin companion surrounded by empty bottles of some unknown devilish brew. His breath alone as he snored away his alcoholic coma was enough to send both Sky and Ricky running to open a window.
Finding Grieco in such a state wasn’t uncommon. Even less common was when he left any for anypony else.
Ricky watched in morbid fascination as Sky took one of the bottles from Grieco’s talons and hefted it slightly. There was no time between the moment she put the bottle to her lips and Grieco jabbed his talon against Sky’s neck.
“One more sip, and I repossess it through your throat,” the griffin growled.
“Try it and you’ll be pissing out both ends,” Sky retorted.
Ricky took another drag on his cigarette and fanned the smoke toward the others with his hat.
“How I end up work wi’you freaks?” he wondered aloud.
Sky locked eyes with Grieco, who glared reproachfully at her. The bottle in her hoof tilted toward the floor, and Grieco’s eyes widened. The bottle tipped more, and the contents within started pouring out.
Grieco’s famously fast talons lashed out and whipped the bottle from Sky’s hoof. But there was no saving the lost booze.
“You’re pushing your luck tonight, missy. You show up late looking like you’ve been squeezed through an engine block. Then you steal my booze. You got a death wish or something?” Grieco asked.
“You sound like I’d be the dead one here,” Sky retorted.
“Needy can make it happen if you try the same shit on him.”
“Why don’t you quit hiding behind Needy and do it yourself?”
“Eh?” Grieco asked, pausing in the middle of pouring himself a new drink.
Sky swept her hoof across the table, clearing away all of the empty bottles.
“Do me in. Right now,” Sky dared him.
“Oh, you don’t want do that,” Ricky said, the brim of his hat filling with smoke.
“Butt out, bird. I’m talking here,” Sky said.
“Aww, ain’t this cute. This little yearling thinks she’s a big, tough draft horse,” Grieco said to nopony in particular.
“You can’t even hit me.”
“I don’t bother with little teetotalers like you,” Grieco said, pouring his drink.
“Hit me,” Sky dared him.
“Oh, boy. Here we go,” Ricky muttered, taking a drag on his cigarette.
“Filly, you don’t want that,” Grieco said, swirling his drink in its glass.
“Maybe I do. Maybe I don’t believe the ‘stallions can’t hit mares’ bullshit. What do you say?” Sky goaded him on.
Grieco finished his drink and put his glass on the table, keeping his talon on top of it.
“I say if you even flinch, you buy me a new case of booze,” he said.
“Fine,” Sky said.
“Okay.”
Ricky rolled his eyes and let his cigarette balance on his beak. He watched as Grieco deliberately took one of the bottles from the floor and poured the remainder of its contents into his shot glass.
Grieco swirled the drink again, never once looking at Sky, who was growing more and more impatient as the seconds passed.
He sipped on his drink, letting it burn sweetly in his throat.
Sky clenched her teeth as she watched him. She could wait no more. Before she ever began to lunge at Grieco, the glass flew from his talon right to Sky’s head.
Her hooves raised quickly to block the flying glass as it whizzed past her. She was hardly aware that it had even missed her as she felt Grieco’s talons jab into her chest.
“You flinched,” Grieco simply said.
“Ugh! Grab your own chest, perv!” Sky shouted, throwing Grieco’s hand back to his side.
Ricky threw his head back and laughed, catching his cigarette in his mouth as it flipped into the air.
“Is that the melodious guffaws of a certain smoked turkey I hear?” a familiar voice sang from the hallway.
Everypony went silent as soft steps were suddenly heard coming toward them. Sky’s chest clenched when she saw Needy enter the room, looking like a rancher who was looking over his prize heads of cattle.
“Why, so it is!” Needy said in mock surprise, “Ricky, you thieving magpie, you. You’re supposed to be in Kludgetown right now.”
“Know why I ain’t?” Ricky said, pointing his cigarette at Sky.
“Oh, Ricky, my boy. Don’t be so hard on our filly. She must have been busy nursing her wounds this morning. After all, one doesn’t walk away from a fight with the Bearer of Loyalty without a few scrapes,” Needy said.
Ricky gasped so hard that his cigarette was burned down to half its length.
“You been fight with’a Bearer of Loyalty!?” he choked out as clouds of smoke blew out his mouth with every word. “You gon’ get it now, girly!”
“Don’t give her so much credit. She can only take a punch, but she can’t dish it out,” Sky said.
“My goodness, but she gave you such a lovely little beauty mark,” Needy said, pointing to Sky’s face.
Sky tried to subtly turn her face from Needy.
“Come to think of it, I don’t recall you having that before. You haven’t been having any get-togethers without us, have you?”
“I went to Ponyville like you said,” Sky answered.
“And you stabbed somepony else?” Needy wondered.
“No. It was…” Sky halted herself from speaking, silently considering the consequences of the truth. “It was him. Verko’s little stray.”
Needy’s face changed completely when he heard that.
“Surely you don’t mean Capper!?” he said.
“He and his friend saw me and followed me when I was in Canterlot. He tried to fight me, but he still got your message,” Sky said.
“My, my. How things change,” Needy thought to himself. In all the time he had known Capper, he hadn’t so much as lifted a whisker to fight. Something had changed about him. And if it was what he thought, it would be all the easier to exploit. “Did he say anything else, I wonder?”
“No. But he looked like he was about to piss himself when I told him. I think he hates you more than Verko,” Sky said, feeling somewhat proud of herself in that moment.
Needy began pacing around the room, rubbing his hands, tapping his chin and twitching his ears. Sky, Ricky and Grieco all followed him with their eyes as he passed by each one of them.
“This may be a problem…” Needy muttered
“What do we do about it? Neuter him?” Grieco asked, leaning back in his seat.
“Oh, no. No, no, no, my good griffin,” Needy said. “Has it not occurred to you that our stray struttin’ alley cat has not told anypony about us?”
“How you know that?” Ricky wondered.
“Because he is in the company of the Equestrian royalty. Yet there hasn’t been a single hoof raised against us. As far as they know, we are just tourists who got a little rowdy at the Gala,” Needy explained.
“So he’s not talking. Seems okay to me,” Sky shrugged.
“It is, my filly. And it’s going to pay off so well for us.”