//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10. Off to Manehattan again. 
// Story: The Time Keeper of Ponyville 
// by Askre 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 10

It took a little while for Foxy to catch up with Derpy. Although the Pegasus was a faster flyer than her sister, she was still bigger and heavier and the other mare did have a head start already. By the time she finally caught up all thoughts of trying to turn the gray pony around were gone, Foxy was now curious what was exactly going on.

Derpy had noticed her approach and put the rolled up letter between her front hooves. Even if she had managed to speak with her daughters earlier with it in her mouth, it would still make talking easier.

“So… what… prompted… this… spontaneous… trip…” Foxy wheezed as she lined up with Derpy in the air.

“Oh um…” the smaller pony hesitated. It now occurred to her that she had left rather abruptly and with two social workers just sitting there.

“I guess I figured Time had the right idea, best just to go and confront him, maybe I’ll have better luck,” Derpy chuckled nervously and produced an innocent grin.

“Time? Oooh gone to the front of the name have you now?” Foxy asked coyly when she realized Derpy was referring to Time Turner, she grinned wider when the gray Pegasus blushed.

“But yeah… maybe he did have the right idea. We’re just so used to Barricade being an unreasonable jerk that just going there and talk with him never crossed our minds,” the maroon pony said and shrugged.

“So you’re not here to tell me this is a bad idea and convince me to turn around?” Derpy asked, mildly confused and not sure if she should feel relieved or dreadful. Deep back in her mind, the thought of going to confront Barricade was still not very appealing. A small part was almost hoping someone would stop her.

“Heck no, need to give him an earful myself.” Foxy sighed then hung her head. “I was finally convinced to allow Coal to visit him next weekend.”

“Coal?” Derpy inquired, she already had a thought but didn’t want to state anything, she felt her suspicion was confirmed when Foxy hesitated a little as if the mare had said a little too much.

“My daughter… and Barricade’s,” the maroon pony said the latter part between her teeth as if she really hated to admit it.

Derpy nodded, she and Carrot Top hadn’t misheard the other day when the sisters had left their house. Though they hadn’t thought much about the remark, Derpy had wondered if it had been a reference to another child of Barricade’s.

“How old is she?” the gray pony asked.

“Not much older than Dinky, we broke up shortly before he moved from Fillidelphia to, well, Ponyville,” Foxy told Derpy and her brow sunk a little in thought. “I didn’t know I was pregnant until after, we broke up because Private got into his face and chased him away after one too many jerk moments.”

“Well at least his brother was born with a brain,” Derpy joked and the mares giggled.

They found a suitable cloud to rest for a little bit and continued to chat though their talk rather quickly turned to the children and their antics rather than the father of said children. Foxy quickly declared Derpy the winner when telling about the Mother’s day breakfast attempt last year by Dinky and Tootsie. 

“I had never seen such a mess in the kitchen, how they got some of the pancake batter to the ceiling I will never know.” Derpy laughed and Foxy nearly fell down from the cloud she was shaking so much from laughter.

“Coal is such a sweetie but very curious and… not convinced about our stance on her father. I stopped the visits she had with him because he was always late with the foal support and I was worried he was lying to her. I just took it as a sign he wasn’t interested in her…” Foxy sighed as she brought back the element she and Derpy had in common.

That reminded them of where they were going and that they still had some miles to fly so they resumed their journey, but the talk had brought up something else to Derpy’s mind. She hadn’t been surprised that Barricade had been with others and mishandled those relationships as well. He was definitely the type of stallion in her mind who would.

However, with Foxy being a confirmed mother of another child of Barricade’s, the mail mare couldn’t help but wonder if there were more foals. Suddenly it sprung to her mind a nagging possibility that maybe on occasion he had been justified to be late with the support? Maybe he delayed one payment so he could make another? No that didn’t sound right to her, that didn’t sound like Barricade.

Besides, it doesn’t excuse his attitude towards Dinky, she thought.





Time Turner and Caramel weren’t really sure how to describe the scene they were witnessing. Private Iceland was gobbling down pancake after pancake in front of them with a content smile and near bliss in his eyes. This was such a stark contrast to how he had been in the train that the two Earth Stallions weren’t sure whether it was the same pony anymore.

The Cakes didn’t complain and Mrs. Cake brought on a plate after a plate at request. Then again, this was making money for them so why would they complain about a customer who liked to eat their product.

“If this goes on, he might just put the twins through college,” Mr. Cake had joked when the fifth plate was brought to the hungry, hungry Unicorn.

Turner couldn’t do much but watch in some morbid fascination having no appetite for pancakes while watching this spectacle. Private seemed to be a pony of many contrast, he contrasted his own brother with less outspoken manner and he even managed to contrast his own usual behavior when it came to something he loved, this case pancakes.

“Do you want some more syrup, dearie?” Mrs. Cake asked as she trotted closer with a tray that held a new pitcher of delicious looking syrup.

Private looked up and nodded, not eagerly but still with the message that more syrup would very much be appreciated. The pitcher replaced the empty one on the table and the Unicorn resumed eating.

“Oh my, I see you’ve discovered Private’s not so secret weakness,” Dew Doe addressed their table; she was newly arrived into the shop after a short search for the stallions.

“He’s on his fifth plate,” Caramel remarked and glanced at the Pegasus, his eyes alone asking if the Unicorn was always like this.

“Only the fifth? My, my, he’s slacking off,” Dew joked and couldn’t help but chuckle when seeing the faces on the Ponyville stallions.

“But seriously, we need to head to Manehattan, stat. Derpy decided to head over and give Barricade a piece of her mind. I sent Foxy after her but I don’t think she’ll manage to turn her around. However, I noted that there is only one last train that goes there today and it probably won’t arrive until those two are already there,” Dew then explained.

“Derpy is doing what?” Turner gasped, Caramel blinked in surprise. Private didn’t seem to have noticed anything and just kept stuffing on pancakes.

“Well we better go then, the last train does indeed only go in few minutes,” the clock smith jumped down from his seat.

“I’ve already made sure Carrot Top is watching over the fillies, though I probably didn’t need to,” Dew noted.

Now all eyes went to Private who was still oblivious to the talk. Caramel raised an eyebrow and silently wondered how they were going to get him to move away from his delicious meal. Dew answered the unasked question by simply heading closer to the table, grabbing the plate in her mouth and began backing away.

Turner and Caramel could once again just stare at the scene happening in front of them. Private stopped eating but now he scrambled down from his seat and followed Dew with his eyes fixed on the pancakes she moved towards the entrance of the shop.

“Just keep the plate, dearie, plenty of those where they came from,” Mrs. Cake called from the cashier counter when Dew had glanced over in case it wasn’t alright for her to take the plate outside.

“Wait, why doesn’t he just grab the pancakes away from her with his ma…” Caramel didn’t get further as Turner put a hoof over his mouth.

“I know you’ve been on a roll today, Caramel, but please don’t give him any ideas, we are kind of in a hurry right now, we have a train to catch again,” his employer whispered sharply before following Dew and Private out of the shop, Caramel came right behind him.

Once outside Time Turner and Caramel noticed Mulberry on their way to the train station, he was running towards them. The stocky police pony was almost immediately addressing the amber colored stallion.

“Hey Caramel, Sassaflash been looking all over for you today,” he informed Caramel who stopped short at hearing his ex-girlfriend’s name.

“Um did she look angry or annoyed when she told you that?” Caramel wondered and half expected the Pegasus mare in question to pop in from nowhere.

“Ah, Caramel, you resolve this, I’ll see you when I come back from Manehattan.” Time Turner began walking again, he had glanced at the clock tower and seen that the last train would be coming at any second now, Dew and Private were already long gone from sight.

“Wait but…” Caramel didn’t manage to speak further and Mulberry had to jump to the side when a turquoise Pegasus mare with a vanilla mane suddenly landed right next to him.

Mulberry grumbled something unheard to everyone and started to trot away. Caramel was thus left alone with the newly arrived pony. She didn’t look either annoyed or angry in fact she seemed almost pleased to have found him.

“Caramel, my pony, my tough cookie, the pony who just doesn’t give up no matter the hardship he faces,” the mare greeted cheerfully as she grabbed the stallion in a tight one leg hug.

“Hi Sass… um nice to meet you?” Caramel was very confused.

“So what’s happening here? You say you got a new job lined up and then you just vanish on me? I thought we were a team, a partnership, a peanut butter and jelly combination.” Sassaflash eased slightly on her hug but didn’t quite let go, she now stared questionably at the confounded stallion.

“Wait…what? You broke up with me.” Caramel pointed out and pulled himself out of the hug. Now it was the Pegasus’s turn to look confused.

“Y-you took that seriously? You actually thought…?” Sass blinked several times, then she quickly grabbed Caramel with both hooves, pulling him closer.

“Caramel, buddy, sweetie, you klutzy goof, you know my jokes are spoken in sarcasm, I didn’t mean to kick you out on the curb, no matter how many jobs you lose. I mean, sure mom probably didn’t get it either that I was joking… that probably didn’t help either…” Sassaflash blinked as it dawned on her.

“Ookay maybe we should have a proper talk about this, uh you busy?” she asked and grinned uneasily.

“Well… not anymore.” Caramel could hear the distant sound of a train whistle and guessed he would never make it in time to catch it.





Derpy landed on the sidewalk and Foxy made a bit heavier landing beside her. It was now late afternoon but there were still plenty of ponies around. The grey Pegasus was mildly relieved that they could just fly above the traffic if needed be. They had landed in front of The Barricade gym and ponies were still inside working out by the looks of it.

“So, ready to do this?” Foxy asked sounding all hyped up.

“Yes.” Derpy nodded determination in her voice and face.

“Right,” the maroon mare said.

“Right,” the grey one concurred.

They didn’t move an inch towards the door. Ponies had to walk around them as the two mares still just stood and stared at the gym, some gave them questionable looks but otherwise no one paid much heed to them.

“I suppose we should go in,” Derpy said after a short while.

“Yeah,” Foxy agreed.

“When was the last time you saw him?” the smaller pony asked.

“Eh, two years ago, about the time when I told him Coal wasn’t visiting him anymore,” the maroon pony explained. “What I know now days mostly comes from either Private or their parents, but since they know I’m rarely interested in him they don’t tell me that much.”

“Yeah… I haven’t really seen him since he left Ponyville… that was a while ago, I just sent letters or telegrams,” Derpy told her.

“Alright, let’s go in,” Foxy grunted and hung her head, realizing they were both just stalling.

“Can’t we stall a little longer?” the other Pegasus asked, knowing also that they were in truth in no hurry to meet Barricade.

“Yes, yes we can,” the maroon pony raised her head nodding sharply. Another moment passed before the grey one hoofed her face.

“No, no we better get this over with.” Derpy shook her head and started towards the door, Foxy followed hesitantly.

The mares entered the gym. Tornado, the Pegasus Time Turner and Caramel had seen lifting was behind the counter this time. There were not as many ponies inside as when the stallions had been there. 

“Yeah, can I help ya, ladies?” Tornado looked up smiling from a magazine he was reading.

“You can tell Barricade that the mothers of his daughters are here to see him,” Foxy addressed the stallion giving him a frosty look.

“Oh… it’s you Foxy… uh…” the male Pegasus blinked when he recognized the mare. “Ah that’s going to be a little difficult.”

“Why?” Foxy’s eyes narrowed to a slit. This change in attitude surprised Derpy. The maroon mare had been just as unwilling to go in to face Barricade, but now she looked almost ready to burn holes into this stallion.

Tornado indeed looked like he rather be miles and miles away. He looked hesitantly around as if hoping for some help, but mysteriously all nearby ponies were very busy with their workouts and seemed to be actively avoiding looking at the counter.

“He’s gone home. He and Barbell always go home early on the weekends,” he explained and tried to maintain a smile but it slowly sunk away at the stinging glare from the mare.

“Fine then,” Foxy snorted and walked out with Derpy hurriedly following. 

Outside Foxy took immediately to the air and the grey mare had to make some effort to keep up. Meeting Tornado had really riled her up. They flew around for a while before Derpy dared to break the silence.

“So uh… you knew him?” she asked cautiously, still not sure what mood the other mare was in. Foxy glanced at her before finally nodding.

“We dated few years ago or more like, I dated, he was just trying to get around me to get to my sister,” Foxy told her with a snort.

“What? What a jerk!” Derpy gasped, understanding the attitude change now.

“Yeah, Dew of course wasn’t having any of that, slapped him when he first tried to hit on her and told me immediately about it. Then we both informed him that I was not a checkpoint just to get Dew,” the maroon mare explained then sighed heavily. “Not the first somepony does that.”

“Wait, this has happened more than once?” the grey Pegasus blinked in surprise.

“Oh yes…” Foxy wasn’t hiding the bitterness in her tone, she stopped to hover in midair, gesturing to herself now. “Behold Foxy Stripes, the ugly gateway to the beautiful Dew Doe, who is so symmetrical, so photogenic, so pretty and prim and looks all proper with the mane and tail all lush and full and sleek soft coat. Ponies look at me and ask if I was adopted, they look at her and tell our mother she is so lucky to have such a beautiful daughter.”

Derpy watched silently as Foxy ranted, meeting Tornado had obviously brought up unpleasant memories. She thought back to earlier today and could see now why Foxy and Dew wouldn’t openly state they were sisters, even if they looked close and didn’t seem ashamed to be related. It was obviously done to spare Foxy’s feelings who was tired of being compared to Dew.

The grey mare could relate a little though, thinking back to those who thought she was nothing but a brain-dead klutz. Some didn’t even look further than to her mismatched eyes and immediately judged her. However, she couldn’t really say she let it bother her too much, her optimistic nature just didn’t seem to allow for it plus her real friends and her daughters and parents just always kept her spirits high up.

Derpy flew closer to Foxy now that the bigger mare had ranted for a minute and grabbed her in a hug. That silenced the maroon Pegasus who looked mildly surprised before hesitantly returning it.

“Mom always says, when someone is upset, let them rant for a minute, then hug them,” Derpy said when they parted.

“Yeah uh, sorry about that. I wasn’t really expecting Tornado to be working there, then again I have tried hard to forget that creep,” Foxy muttered and the two resumed flying.

“No worries, but I suppose we should try and find Barricade since we are here, you know where he lives?” Derpy asked.

“Unfortunately I do though I’ve never been, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find when you know the address,” the maroon Pegasus responded.

It took a little while and they did have to stop once to ask for directions but eventually they arrived at an apartment building deep within the city. Foxy and Derpy landed in front of it and looked up at the big building. The grey Pegasus then noticed a yellowish mare coming out of it and approached her.

“Excuse me, does Barricade live here?” she asked curiously. The mare stopped and regarded her for a second.

“Oh yes, Barricade and Barbell, they live on the third floor, apartment 3B,” she said before trotting off, clearly not too interested in why a stranger was asking about them.

“Wait, this Barbell lives with him?” Foxy raised an eyebrow. “Last I heard she was just helping him running that joint with her brother Blue.”

Derpy shrugged, really not interested in updated relationship status of her daughter’s father. The mares approached the door and realized they would probably need to ring the buzzer; however, another pony was leaving the apartment building, so they just slipped inside before the door closed.

They quickly made their way to the third floor and soon found the right apartment. Once again, they hesitated a little before Derpy finally worked up the nerve to knock. The mares held their breaths while waiting for an answer. It was quickly let out when it was not Barricade who opened the door nor was it Barbell.

Hovering in midair staring suspiciously at them was a small Pegasus filly. She looked about year or two older than Dinky and had a thin but healthy built. Her coat was dark grayish brown and mane and tail was dark grayish sapphire blue with grayish blue highlights. 

“Um hi?” Derpy greeted her and smiled, Foxy’s jaw was nearly down to the floor.

“What’cha want?” the filly asked and scrunched up her face.

“First of all, don’t be rude, Cara.” Foxy collected her lower jaw up from the floor. “Second of all, what are you doing here?”

“Livin’ here,” Cara the filly snorted.

“You know her?” Derpy whispered, leaning slightly towards the bigger mare.

“Yeah, that’s Cara, Barricade’s oldest daughter, but last I heard her grandparents were raising… oooh that explains so much. They have sent her to live with Barricade from now on.” Foxy sighed and shook her head.

So he has three foals, Derpy thought and again started to wonder how many there actually were.

“Seriously Cara, you go answer the door and then don’t let us know who it is,” a very familiar voice to the mares suddenly came from inside the apartment. 

Cara’s was bathed in indigo colored glow and pulled back a bit, the filly grunted at being removed from the door but didn’t otherwise protest. Then Barricade arrived in the entrance. He had been about to say something but when the stallion saw the mares and recognized them, it froze in his mouth.

“Oh…” Barricade raised one eyebrow; he regarded both Foxy and Derpy carefully.

“This is going to hurt, isn’t it?” he asked though it sounded more like a statement.

End Chapter 10