//------------------------------// // Welcome To Manehatten // Story: Fiends of Manehatten // by Skrive Flip //------------------------------// Manehatten Hosptial: “Is she going to be ok?” A dark blue coated stallion with a hammer cutie mark asked. He was confronting an pegasus pony doctor. The doctor was yellow, with his mane cut short, and his cutie mark was a pair of pills. The doctor shrugged slightly. “It is out of my hooves now. We are doing the best we can, and we would appreciate if you went home and let us do our work…” He tried to sound polite, despite his slightly rude message. The blue stallion ´s face showed signs of anger, but instead of acting upon it, he sullenly retreated himself out of the office they were in and closed the door behind him. The yellow doctor pegasus spread out his wings a moment, stretching them, and getting out the knots. Small clicks of bones getting back into position resounded and he gave out a loud sigh. “I am not being paid near enough for this…” the doctor complained to himself before walking around to his desk. The office did not consist of much else than his desk and filing cabinets. Every time he had finished with a patient, he had to put it in the files in the correct order. Then later in the week he had to catalogue all the files to make sure nothing was missing. It was all rather dull, yet also tiring. Especially when he got the night shifts. A sharp and excruciatingly dragged out pain struck the poor pegasus´s head from within. He had been getting migraines a lot lately. “Urgh… I’m not going to get through this shift…” He mumbled, before a thought struck him. He carefully walked over to his office door, peeking outside to make sure nopony was around to interrupt him. He then closed and made sure to lock the door, shutting off the lights and closing the blinds. He needed to be alone for this. The pegasus awkwardly made his way to his desk again, looking down towards a special drawer for a moment that was locked with a key. He stopped short, before he got the drawer fully open. The color drained from his face and his breath left his body. The drawer was already half open, but he could see that it was empty. “No…” he breathed. He slammed the drawer shut and opened another. Then frantically began digging through all his drawers. “No...no...NO!” “Looking for… this?” a smooth trottingham voice asked. The pegasus froze again, this time in fear. He was about to face the speaker, but the second he turned his head the voice continued. “Turn around and this will go public, m´dear,” the voice almost purred, despite its accent. Though something was strangely smooth about that voice. It was almost… alluring. Despite the fact that by now, the pegasus doctor had realized it came from a Stallion. He swallowed hard and forced himself to face forwards. “Look just… let me have my flowers back an-“ "Ironic how a pony trained to cure pain and disease cannot even take care of his own health." The voice mused, before giving off an amused chuckle, which was in every way sadistic. The pegasus had cold sweat running down his brow. “What do you want from me?!” The doctor asked a bit snappishly. The chuckle came again. “My dear physician… I only need you to help me with a teeny tiny little thing… Do that, and nopony will ever hear how their, ‘beloved’ doctor, is eating opium poppies behind their backs…” the voice said, once again, the sadistic, yet self-satisfied tone and purring push upon the word ‘beloved’ made the doctor feel a shiver go down his spine. Reluctantly, the doctor released a sigh and nodded. “What do you need me to do?” The small bag of opium poppies landed on his desk, but a moment later, he was grabbed. One hoof held around his muzzle constricting his air supply, and the other was constricting him in general. He was pushed down upon the desk with an audible slam. He desperately tried to spread out his wings, but they didn’t seem to listen to his commands. It was like they were bound against him. With a small look upwards, spotted a small white light shining in the gloom of the office. It made him realize his attacker was a unicorn. His wings must have been constricted by magic. He tried to reach up a hoof to attack the horn, but was only slammed more roughly into the desk as the voice purred again. “Ohhh Such a bad little Boy. Do you always treat your partners this rough? I think we need to get to know each other better…” The doctor felt the coldness of the hooves constricting him, but also now of the coldness of the body behind him. The unicorn behind him licked his lips. “You know, I think you´re rather fun… So just to help you out… I think I am going to give you something ‘much’ more relaxing than any drug you have ever tried…” the unicorn said, before revealing his pearly white fangs. He sank his teeth into the pegasus´s neck who could only struggle silently. It was quiet after that. Manehatten Streets: Boring. That was the best word to describe the carriage ride. Boring. Coltenhagen was almost as far north as one could get, Unless one counted in Buckholm even further up north, but Cheerilee was happy enough with Coltenhagen for now. Buckholm was always an alternative. Or perhaps she should try Stalliongrad. She had always liked cities with a historical significance. One of the greatest dance battles of World Party Two were played out there after all. Perhaps she should just take a map over Scandineighvia and travel around to the major cities when she needed a change of scenery. That would at least be three times she could change address. Once again, Cheerilee felt her mood dive a bit. 'Listen to yourself', she berated mentally. 'You're already assuming you have to leave Coltenhagen forever… it’s a Job in Manehatten. They won’t know anything.' She tried to comfort herself. A bump on the road that made Cheerilee smack her head into the wall of the Carriage snapped her from her thoughts. It didn’t hurt, not really. At least not in what she had come to define as pain. Physically, she could still feel it, but it was simply nothing compared to what she had experienced before. She didn’t really flinch when she hit her head beyond an arbitrary act she had gotten used to doing when in other ponies´ company. There was nopony around now, but that would be changing soon so she might as well get back into the act. The act… like most of her life was by now… Her thoughts were once again ripped away from her as she heard the gruff voice of the carriage puller speak. “We have arrived, Miss La Cheer.” Cheerilee immediately changed her demeanor, putting firmness and a touch of arrogance in her eyes and voice. “That is Countess De La Cheer to you.” They were, after all, in Manehatten. If anything could be said truly about the Big apple, then it was that there certainly was a large demographic of arrogant ponies. Another one arriving would be no surprise. The carriage puller did not know she could hear his tut, but then again, how would he be able to know? Normal ponies should not be able to hear things like that. Cheerilee grasped her luggage, which was just one large green bag mainly containing clothes and bits, and stepped out of the carriage. She glanced skyward, relieved that the sun had set. Sunlight might not hurt, but it was more frustrating than when an entire class handed in their assignments late. The lavender mare blinked a few times, taking in the sight before her. Manehatten, a city not just of slightly tall buildings like Coltenhagen, but a city of massive skyscrapers. Part of Cheerilee´s mind was actually questioning if sunlight ever reached the streets, as the massive buildings seemed almost like walls, encasing the ponies of the city inside. Another thing that caught her attention was the sheer amount of ponies in the streets. Even though she had stopped well inside the city at a private address, there still was a mind-boggling amount of ponies. And this was the night hours. 'Was this area just popular during this time of night?' She mentally questioned. Maybe there was some sort of Manehattenite celebration she didn’t know of. “It is quite Impressive is it not?” Cheerilee turned her head to see the one who had spoken. It was a unicorn stallion. Or actually, In Cheerilee´s head, she more saw him as a colt still. He didn’t look like he was even a week off from his graduation. The colt had a deep red coat, while his mane was a long, slightly messy blonde. A fedora resting on top of his head with space for his ears to peek up. His cutie mark a pen with a small lightning streak across the side that was writing in a large book. It seemed that he was a quick writer. The disguised teacher gave a small nod in reply. “Quite impressive Indeed.” The Colt gave a small smile, before bowing his head in greeting. “Oh, how rude of me… it is an honor to meet you, Countess De La Cheer. I am Lightning Pen, and I shall be your guide through Manehatten.” His voice, while still having a small hint of adolescence, seemed to be mature enough. He was not overplaying the act, and spoke as if addressing an actual countess. This made Cheerilee bow her head in return, however not as much as her guide. “A pleasure to meet you, Mister Pen… Shall we get a move on then?” she asked, small part of her impatience digging in. Pen nodded. “Of Course Countess, we should get to your accommodations first, so you can leave your luggage,” he said with a smile, before turning to the building behind him. “I Hope you do not mind stairs, For the place is on the top floor.” 'Nope… I like having a vantage point', Cheerilee thought, before just arrogantly shaking her head. Being in Public and being “Countess” could be tiring at times, but sometimes it was also quite fun. The two headed inside the building. It was a lavishly furnished place, though it clearly was a very large apartment complex, consisting of dwelling of many sizes and shapes. From space enough for one bachelor, all the way to living quarters for a large family. The building had a lot of stairs, which was of course necessary for a building with lots of floors, but it was clear the building was up to par when it came to exit regulations. If this building caught fire, nopony would be trapped. In Cheerilee’s line of work, things like that were important to her. Finally they reached the top floor, finding very few doors, though most of them very adorned and clearly made of out expensively processed wood. One could almost argue that the wealth and class had increased along with the staircases. Pen dug a key out from beneath his hat and opened the door. Cheerilee was not surprised to find the apartment beyond very large. It had a combined kitchen and living room, with large panorama windows to show a view of most of the city. Though this was hardly the tallest building in Manehatten, but the view was quite impressive. Cheerilee was about to reach for her luggage again, which for a vampire had not really been a problem carrying up the stairs at all, when Pen picked it up himself and carried it inside for her. He smiled almost gleeful confidence. “Welcome to my home, Agent Cheerilee. How about we get on with figuring out who or what is stalking Manehatten?” XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX The hospital was just as huge as one would expect a facility in a city of millions would be. It was large, clean and effective. It needed to be in order to handle the rush of patients that could sometimes come, like during cider season. Cheerilee followed behind pen, through the hospital halls and past several patients. The entire place was tingling Cheerilee´s nose. A vampire could catch many more scents than normal ponies, and while the hospital staff did everything they could to keep everything sterilized, Cheerilee could still smell the tiny points they missed. It was just a mixture of a large amount of patients in for different ailments that was prodding at her with each passing step. Finally they reached their destination. A section of the hospital that was cut off from any unauthorized access. Pen walked up to the guard and gave him a small badge, which the guard perused a moment before handing it back with a nod. Pen had dressed himself up with a vest along with his fedora for this trip. He had a small notepad and his badge in the pockets of his vest, along with a pen in the band of his hat. Cheerilee would originally question why he would have these objects along, but she dismissed it for now. There were more important matters at the moment. The guard pressed a few buttons in front of him, and two large sliding doors opened in front of Cheerilee and Pen, allowing them to walk inside. The doors closed again the moment they had entered, shutting both them in and intruders out. Pen turned to Cheerilee. “We are allowed to speak more freely here. This section of the hospital is shut off specifically for Agency Cases.” The two of them continued down the hall. The teacher gave a small nod. “I see…would you please like to brief me more in detail then? The Princess was quite lackluster on those.” There was some frustration in her voice. Pen picked up on that and gave a small nod, as they stopped outside a door to a patient´s room. “The victim's name is Emerald Song Bags. She is a performer at the Manehatten theatre. She and her husband, Money Bags, disappeared a few weeks back after a performance. Nopony saw or heard anything of them. It was as if they had just disappeared off the surface of Equestria.” Cheerilee looked upon Pen and took in every word he spoke. Her mind quickly checked if she had missed anything, and moved on with questions of her own. “But Miss Song Bags appeared in the streets yesterday night, yes?” Pen gave a small nod. “Yes. Just as she and her husband had disappeared, she had seemingly just reappeared.” He motioned to the door. Cheerilee nodded and opened it to the patient´s room, inside being just as clean and shining as most of the rest of the hospital. The difference was the fact that there were no windows in this room and the door was actually reinforced. Cheerilee and Pen walked inside, seeing the green coated mare, with her beautifully streaked blonde mane just lying there on the bed like any other patient would. There were bandages around her neck and a tired expression upon her face, even as she was sleeping. Dark bags under her eyes would suggest this was the first sleep she had gotten in a long time. Pen found himself a chair and placed it in front of the bed, sitting down and using his magic to pull forth his pen and notepad. He then began to scribble a few things down, mumbling slightly. “Tired Expression, bandages seem fine, breathing normal…” he mumbled. The last words made Cheerilee look over upon the downed Emerald Song with disbelief. While she could hear the mare breathe, she could not believe that she was. Not really. The teacher walked over to the side of the bed, looking over the mare for any sort of… sign of transformation. But the more she searched, the less she found. Everything just seemed normal. And it unnerved Cheerilee. “Incredible isn’t it?” Pen´s voice made Cheerilee turn to face him with a confused, yet a bit of an angry face which he seemingly ignored. “The wounds on her neck clearly speak of a bite… And I read the report from the doctors, the teeth marks were just the right size and shape. It should be a vampire bite, but she hasn’t turned. We might have unearthed something amazing!” he said with almost a gleeful smile upon his face before letting his pen write down a few more things. He stopped as Cheerilee spoke. “You really are too happy about this. You are speaking of her as if she was some sort of pet you wished for Hearths warming eve.” This made Pen´s ears fall slightly, while they were still sticking out of the Fedora. “Sorry… it is just… fascinating is all…” he tried to say defensively, but did realize his error. “Besides, I don’t believe she is not going to turn… If it’s a real bite, then it’s only a matter of time… after all, You only found her yesterday?” Cheerilee asked the last for confirmation. When Pen nodded, she continued. “She could simply be going through her transformation very slowly….” The teacher trailed off in her theorization, but kept her focus upon the sleeping mare. There was just something off about this. If Pen was right, then Emerald could not have been bitten by a vampire. It would just be impossible. Cheerilee opened her mouth to say something, but then she heard something. A small sound of groaning and the rustling of sheets. The mare was waking up.