Chapter 4
“And well… then I just sent her off back to Hooflyn.” Tango finished and shrugged lightly.
The stallion was for once the one giving some news to Vanilla when she had once again knocked on his door. He hadn’t really planned on telling about his encounter with this young filly, but the mare had asked if there was anything new and he saw no reason not to tell the story.
“That does sound like Babs Seed, she’s been visiting Sweet Candy World now where I work for the past several days, ever since I helped her escape some bullies,” the mare chuckled.
“I hope she sticks to that in the future,” Tango muttered and shook his head.
“Yeah, I’m sorry you had to go to The Barricade, speaking of, the owner hasn’t been giving you any more trouble has he?” the mare asked and winched when the other pony grunted and muttered something inaudible.
“He’s… collected the first payment from me…” he looked down.
“Oh I’m so sorry, are you out of money then?” Vanilla asked and felt even more sorry for the stallion when he nodded.
“I had just enough to buy some supplies, they should be enough until I get my next payment,” Tango said though he wasn’t sure, it would probably be very tight.
Vanilla bit her lips as she thought it over, she glanced at the stairs leading up before looking back at the stallion. The mare wasn’t exactly swimming in riches but she probably was better set than he was right now.
“I need to go to the store myself, if you need anything more, I can buy it for you,” she offered.
“W-what?” Tango blinked, taken a little by surprised at the officer. “I wouldn’t… I don’t even know if I can pay you back.”
“You don’t have to.” Vanilla shook her head and smiled warmly. “It would be my pleasure.”
Why is she being so nice and generous? Tango frowned a bit but then relented. He had been forced to refrain from buying few things because he couldn’t afford it. “I guess I should write you a list then.”
“Oooh wait, I have better idea,” the mare said happily. “Why don’t you accompany me to the store, then you can pick out things you need and maybe find something more you didn’t think of putting on your list.”
“Uh…sure…” Tango wasn’t sure how to take this, Vanilla was confusing him greatly.
“Let me just go get my saddlebag.” The mare quickly darted for the stairs and head up.
Tango shrugged and returned back into his own apartment to get his own saddlebag. Once he had returned out to the hall, Vanilla came galloping back down. She stopped almost right beside him and looked up at the stallion with a perky smile.
“All ready to go?” she asked though it was rather obvious that he was.
The two ponies headed outside, the afternoon was already getting late but there was still enough sun shining down into the city. There were less ponies now around now that the evening was fast approaching. While they walked Vanilla brought up Babs Seed again.
“Did you know she’s the niece of Mosely Orange?” she asked Tango who arched his brow, now where had he heard that name before?
“I’m sometimes a little dazed that the relatives of one of Manehattan’s biggest are visiting the store I work in,” the mare giggled a bit.
“Relatives?” Tango couldn’t help but notice the plural.
“Oh yeah, her big sister came also the other day. Sunflower I think her name was, nice mare, though she seemed to be accompanying Babs that day more out of obligation, she didn’t buy anything, barely talked,” Vanilla explained.
“No wonder she reminded me of Apple Bloom,” the stallion suddenly said out of the blue. While she had been talking, he had been mulling over Babs Seed relation to Orange.
“Who?” the mare looked at Tango questionably.
“Ah, a filly I knew back where I come from, part of a big, big clan of earth ponies, the Apples. I just remembered that the Oranges are related to the Apples,” he told her and rolled his eyes. “Guess stubbornness runs in both families.”
“Oh wow that is interesting,” Vanilla giggled.
Tango ended up chuckling as well. His mind now thinking of all the times he and Mulberry had chased the Cutie Mark Crusaders after yet another crazy stunt they had performed in their quest for cutie marks. This made him miss Ponyville even more and then the guilt over what he did came over him again. He managed though not to show it outwardly as he listened to Vanilla chat, she had begun a story about a customer she met at her work.
They arrived at the store and took their time to find everything they needed. Tango felt another pang of guilt when watching Vanilla pay for everything. He still couldn’t understand why she was being so nice to him.
“My probation officer is going to arrange for me to meet a… friend of mine,” Tango was now talking as they were heading back home. The mare had asked him about his probation, the stallion was reluctant to tell too much but relented to briefly tell what Pardon Peace was doing for him.
“Oh that sounds nice, been a while I take it?” Vanilla nodded when Tango responded positively to her question. “It is always nice to meet old friends again.”
Yeah… yeah it is, Tango sighed inwardly, outwardly he just inclined his head in agreement. Deep down the stallion was very nervous and uncertain. Last time he saw Snow Heart she had looked so distant, so unresponsive.
“Well, well look who we have here guys,” a voice spoke up near them.
Oooh no. Tango silently groaned and looked to the side, crossing the street was Barricade. With him were Blue and an ash gray pegasus, with a double tornado cutiemark, Tornado was his name.
“Just ignore him,” Vanilla whispered and continued to walk, Tango followed but had a feeling they weren’t escaping so easily. Tornado landing right in front of them, blocking their way confirmed his fear.
“Going so soon? I was hoping to have a little chat this fine afternoon,” Barricade chuckled and approached the two earth ponies. Blue hung back a little, it was obvious he and the pegasus were meant to prevent them from going anywhere until their boss was done with them.
“We have nothing to say to you,” the mare grunted, glaring at the unicorn.
“You keep saying that.” Barricade smiled mockingly as he stepped up in front of them. He looked at Tango and his full saddle bag of groceries. “Didn’t we clean you out pretty much the other day? I recall you having little left in that purse of yours.”
“You did,” Tango narrowed his eyes on the unicorn.
“If you must know, not that it is any of your business. I bought these groceries for him, since you are robbing him of what little money he gets because of your perceived slights,” Vanilla snapped, Barricade immediately turned his attention to her.
“Aw, you’re so nice and compassionate, Vanilla,” the unicorn chuckled, his voice softening considerably as he regarded the mare. “Or are you hoping to impress him? Get into his good graces, hoping to score maybe?”
“W-what?” Vanilla was incensed and sorely tempted to slap Barricade for even suggesting this. She restrained herself though but just barely. Tango’s eyes narrowed even further, his eyes were just slits as he glared at the Unciorn.
“She is quite a catch; isn’t she, Tango?” Barricade looked at the stallion with a devilish grin. “Sexy haunches, lush mane, soft lines, creamy looking coat.”
“E-excuse me!?” Vanilla’s face flushed with more anger.
“Is that… all what mares are too you? Objects to gawk at and embarrass with sexist remarks,” Tango snorted, that only caused the unicorn to laugh.
“Oh don’t tell me you haven’t taken a peek yourself, it’s hard not to,” Barricade’s grin changed into a smirk and he ran his eyes over Vanilla again.
“I would never,” the stallion snarled but there wasn’t a strong conviction in it. He saw that Vanilla was getting really uncomfortable with the attention the unicorn was giving her. Tango thus stepped in front of her, blocking the mare mostly from Barricade’s view.
“Spoil my fun why don’t you,” Barricade chuckled and stepped back a bit, Tango had come closer to him in order to shield Vanilla from view.
“Just leave us alone already, you’ve had your sick fun,” Tango snapped.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” the unicorn chuckled and started to walk away, he rather intentionally walked so that he would have full view of Vanilla again, but Tango noticed and quickly placed himself again in the way.
Barricade just laughed and gestured to Blue and Tornado to follow him. The three stallions then disappeared down the street. Once they were gone Vanilla shuddered and suddenly grabbed Tango in a tight hug.
“Sorry… I just… ugh… I need brain bleach and I think I need to take several showers, I feel dirty all over after how he looked at me and talked about me,” the mare whispered. Tango gingerly patted her on the back, taken a little aback at being hugged so suddenly.
“Don’t uh… don’t worry about it, those were just words, meant to rile us up,” Tango said trying to sound reassuring. The truth is, he felt a little uncomfortable being hugged by the mare after Barricade’s words. Deep, deep, deep back in his mind a tiny voice was telling him that the unicorn did have a point, Vanilla was good looking mare. It was not a voice the stallion wanted to pay too much attention to.
“Oh I know.” Vanilla released him and started to glance around nervously. “I was just caught off guard.”
“You and me both,” the stallion muttered.
They resumed their walk home but were more silent now. Vanilla was just feeling all kinds of icky right now It had been bad enough that Barricade had nearly smeared her face across the hall few days ago, having him stare and talk about her like she was some choice fruit in the market unsettled her even more.
Tango was feeling guilty, for many reasons. Right now, the worst one was that Barricade seemed to be in the process of grabbing a hold in his mind. The unicorn made him uncomfortable, he dreaded meeting him at any point and the former officer couldn’t sometimes help but feel that no matter what he did to resist, it was ultimately futile.
Barricade appeared to have this uncanny ability to spot weaknesses and exploit them. He had effectively silenced Vanilla with just few choice words and a leering look. Most mares would probably just have slapped the unicorn for this and given him a piece of their mind, but this kind of attention clearly made Vanilla so very uncomfortable she just couldn’t do anything.
The unicorn also seemed to see Tango’s doubt and guilt or he was just really good at guessing. The stallion wasn’t sure, but it felt like Barricade knew Tango was confused and uncertain about Vanilla.
“You think he would have harmed us if I had slapped him?” Vanilla wondered, they were approaching their apartment building.
“I’m not sure he would have given you a chance to,” Tango muttered, Barricade’s words still haunted his mind, he tried not to look at the mare too much and painstakingly made sure to look her in the face if he did.
“Yeah… you’re right,” she sighed. “Can I tell you a little secret?”
“Um sure?” The stallion wondered what was up, Vanilla looked more miserable.
“W-when I first moved here… I was almost, well… I was almost assaulted,” the mare whispered. “I was out late, had gone to a party with a friend and lost my way when I was going home. A drunk stallion managed to corner me.”
“He never got a chance to touch me though, the next thing I knew a magic blast threw him away from me and there was Barricade.” Vanilla was not surprised to see the confusion in Tango’s eyes. “Yes I know, Barricade saved me from assault. It still difficult for me to digest today as well.”
“Ever since then… I’ve always got the gut feeling that he only did it so I owed him. He never specifically asked for anything in return, he just introduced himself and then escorted me home without further ado. But after that, I sometimes seriously think he feels entitled… to me.” The mare shuddered. “I’ve never told anypony about this and I think he knows I never told anypony.”
“But, doesn’t he live with this Barbell?” Tango asked, then again he could believe Barricade not to be very monogamous.
“Ugh, I know and I’m not sure she cares, for all I know they are herd supporters.” Vanilla shrugged, feeling a bit better now that this was out.
“Herd supporters?” the stallion had never heard of that term before. Sure in ancient times it wasn’t uncommon for ponies to form herds, but that custom had died out ages ago.
“Oh, you don’t know that is? it’s a new age polygyny movement that wants to revive the old herd marriage customs.” Vanilla shrugged.
“Revive it? It’s maybe an outdated and ancient custom and would probably be considered eccentric if done today, but it’s not illegal,” Tango said, he personally didn’t see the appeal to it but he couldn’t understand why there needed to be a movement for it.
“Eh, maybe they feel the idea isn’t well represented enough,” the mare guessed. The two ponies entered the building and stopped in front of Tango’s apartment.
“Seriously though, I have no idea what’s up with Barbell, like I told you before, I just can’t see what she sees in him.” Vanilla shook her head.
Tango just nodded, he had not seen much of that Barbell so he couldn’t tell. What little he had seen, the mare was a loyal supporter of Barricade and that was enough for him.
“Thanks for… uh the groceries,” he said and started to open his apartment.
“You’re welcome, don’t worry about paying it back, see you later,” Vanilla said then quickly give the stallion a peck on the cheek.
Tango froze and just stared after the mare as she skipped up the steps to the second floor. Slowly the stallion raised a hoof and touched his cheek. Barricade’s words came rushing back at him.
This was just an affectionate gesture of a friend, a friend, nothing else, he thought several times as he stumbled into his apartment. Don’t look too much into it.
‘She is quite a catch; isn’t she?’ Tango growled while making his way to the kitchen, the unicorn just wouldn’t leave his mind, his words still taunting him.
‘Sexy haunches.’ The stallion tried to block the voice out as he began putting away the groceries, but no avail.
‘Lush mane.’ He tried to drown this out by muttering: “She’s just a friend, she’s just a friend.”
‘Soft lines.’ Tango took a deep breath, throwing the now empty saddlebag to a chair. ‘Creamy looking coat.’
Shut up… just shut up. He sat down by the kitchen table, put his head on top of it and then covered his head with his front legs.
Snow Heart. Snow Heart, it’s Snow Heart I love. Tango started to chant in his head.
“But… does she love me?” The stallion suddenly wondered aloud and cringed when he realized that he wasn’t even sure which mare he was referring to.
End chapter 4