//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3. Snow Heart. 
// Story: In old Manehattan 
// by Askre 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 3

“I did not do anything wrong, I accidentally bumped into the fillies and they started badgering me with questions, I was trying to get away,” Snow Heart declared, she looked half between nervous and angry.

“Rain Storm!” the unicorn shouted, the blue gray pegasus immediately glided closer.

“Yes, boss?” Rain Storm inquired as he landed next to Barricade.

“Get those fillies to wherever they live, if they need to take the subway, I’ll pay you back. Just get them away,” Barricade grunted, barely sparing the girls a glance.

Apple Bloom wanted to protest but had to admit that leaving was probably the best idea right now. Things looked like they could get ugly and she wasn’t sure if Applejack would be happy if they got involved. All four fillies looked at Rain Storm when he came flying over, he looked rather young compared to the other stallions.

“Alright kids, where you are from? I better get you all out of here, this isn’t a nice place,” he said and gave them a friendly smile.

“Uh, they are staying at my place in Hooflyn, what’s going on?” Babs Seed asked and glanced over to Snow Heart who was staring at the ground, gritting her teeth.

“Nothing you kids need to worry about. Since you live in Hooflyn, I’ll take you to the subway,” Rain Storm said and started to usher the fillies away.

The Crusaders didn’t protest for now, Sweetie Belle was actually a bit relieved they were leaving, things had started to look a little scary. Scootaloo, however, kept glancing back with concern at Snow Heart. Apple Bloom and Babs Seed were both contemplating as they walked.

Suddenly, Scootaloo broke off from the group and ran back to the confrontation. The other girls were too late to stop her and Rain Storm wasn’t quick enough, the young pegasus filly was already standing between Barricade and Snow Heart before he realized she had rushed off.

“Hold it, what has she done wrong?” Scootaloo asked, staring right that unicorn who arched his brow when seeing her suddenly in front of him.

“Rain!” Barricade growled and glared at the sheepish pegasus stallion who was returning along with the rest of the girls.

“Sorry, boss,” he said meekly and approached Scootaloo. “Come on kid, the adults here need to talk!”

“Not until I hear what she’s done wrong, she is a friend of my mom’s!” Scootaloo claimed firmly. Behind her Snow Heart frowned in confusion, Apple Bloom and the other girls looked at their friend skeptically.

“Your mom should pick better friends,” Barricade snorted and then rolled his eyes. “Fine, Snow Heart by court mandate is not allowed within fifty yards of foals that are not related to her. If she breaks that, all kinds of government officials will be coming around to make sure she stops doing that, I don’t like that. I stop it before it happens.”

“Scootaloo, will you and your friends please go, it’s alright, Barricade is just… helping me remembering my limitations,” Snow Heart finally spoke.

“That’s awfully scary way to help her remember,” Apple Bloom whispered to Babs and Sweetie Belle who nodded in agreement.

“Sir,” she then spoke up and approached, the unicorn looked over, sighed in frustration and gave Rain Storm another glare before focusing again on the earth filly.

“She wasn’t wrong though, we did bump into her and didn’t leave her alone when we recognized her,” Apple Bloom confessed. “We didn’t mean to git her into trouble.”

“Wait, Snow Heart knows all of you?” Barricade snorted and eyed Sweetie Belle and Babs.

“Well we’ve met before, back where we come from, Ponyville,” Apple Bloom explained, when she mentioned the name of her home town the unicorn stallion froze.

“You’re from Ponyville?” he asked but didn’t really wait for an answer, as Apple Bloom was starting to nod to confirm it he was already addressing Rain Storm.

“Rain, get the kids out of here NOW! I don’t care if you have to carry all four of them, get them out of Hoofington!” the stallion snapped, then promptly used his magic to pick up both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, put them back to the sidewalk and pushed the rest in the general direction of the subway station.

The girls didn’t really get a chance to protest much more, Barricade was already walking away along with the other two pegasi stallions, motioning Snow Heart to walk as well. Rain Storm was also actively making sure to stand in their way this time as he herded them towards the subway station.

“Wow, he freaked out when you told him where you all came from,” Babs noted. The other Crusaders nodded, having observed the same thing, the discussion at the train station returned to their mind. Sweetie Belle glanced back at Rain Storm, wondering if he knew more.

“Excuse me,” she slowed down a little to walk closer to the pegasus. “Why did he act like that when my friend mentioned Ponyville?”

“Ah, not sure if I’m allowed to tell really, let’s just say the boss knows ponies in Ponyville and rather not they come here,” he said with a shrug.

“But everypony in Ponyville is friendly, they wouldn’t cause trouble here,” Apple Bloom remarked, looking back at Rain Storm.

“I’m sure they wouldn’t, look I don’t know all of the boss’s personal history. I just do what he tells me to do,” the stallion simply said.

“He isn’t going to hurt Snow Heart is he?” Scootaloo asked half accusingly, she hadn’t liked how frightened Snow Heart had looked.

“No, no, don’t worry. He was just making sure rules weren’t being broken, that’s all,” he told her, though the younger pegasus wasn’t sure how much that was true.

Rain Storm didn’t leave the girls until they were all the way at the subway and boarding. The Crusaders in fact saw him standing on the platform watching the train pass by from the window. It appeared the stallion was making extra sure that they had in fact left.

“Well that was a waste, we didn’t meet Tango and the parcel was stolen,” Apple Bloom grumbled as she sat down on the bench.

“Well, we met Snow Heart. She seemed to know who Vanilla was,” Sweetie Belle remarked, causing everyone to look at her confused. The unicorn arched her brow, she had thought it was obvious. “Didn’t you see how she froze up when Apple Bloom mentioned the name.”

Now they all had to think back and slowly it came to them that Snow Heart had indeed recognized the name.

“And since she lives with Tango, we don’t have to look all over for her,” Scootaloo said and suddenly jumped off the bench just as the subway was slowing down to stop.

“Uh, Scoot’s, what are ya doin’?” Apple Bloom asked confused.

“Getting off, the next stop should still have us close enough to Hoofington that we can walk back,” she said and hurried towards the opening doors.

None of the girls could really argue with that, even Babs had nodded at what Scootaloo had said. The other Crusaders quickly leaped off their benches and hurried after the pegasus filly. The station didn’t look much better than the previous one. Checking a nearby map confirmed that they were in fact still in the Hoofington area, just a bit further north.

“Wait, why are we still doing this?” Sweetie Belle asked with a concerned frown, she had actually been rather relieved to be leaving this shady neighborhood.

“We agreed to help Babs solve this mystery and we aren’t going to do that in Hooflyn,” Scootaloo pointed out.

“Yeah and Ah’m sure we can find direction to Park from here.” Apple Bloom nodded, deep down she was also hoping to spot the parcel thief again.

“But what if we run into Barricade and he just sends us away again?” Sweetie Belle pointed out.

“Oh come on, what are the odds dey even live in the same building, Hoofington isn’t maybe as big as Hooflyn but it’s still big enough,” Babs chuckled. She, Apple Bloom and Scootallo then hurried up to street level, with reluctant Sweetie Belle trailing behind.





“You don’t have to follow me all the way,” Snow Heart grunted and glared back, behind her came Barricade and the two other pegasi stallions. She knew the ash gray one was called Tornado and the yellow one was Thunder Storm.

“We all live in the same building, Snowy,” Barricade grunted and shook his head.

Snow Heart didn’t respond to that since she knew he was right, so she simply continued onward. The mare did her best to simply ignore them, she just wanted to get to her apartment for some solitude. Tango wouldn’t be home for few more hours. The only problem right now was that the foal she carried was causing her to walk slowly.

The mare sighed softly, the meeting with the fillies had brought up some uncomfortable memories. Some that she still had nightmares about. Therapy had slowly helped her overcome the worst, but there were still times they would come back and haunt her. She tried to ward them off by thinking about what the girls had wanted.

Why did they ask about Vanilla Cream? She wondered and debated whether to tell Tango about this chance meeting.

He’s getting better, but mentioning her might set him off. Snow Heart frowned slightly. Probably best not to take any chances.

Snow Heart then noticed that she was finally approaching the apartment building. The mare looked forward to sit down and rest, it had been a long fruitless noon at the unemployment line again. Her past continuously haunted her, though in some cases they had asked her to try again after she had delivered.

“Son of a Manticore!” She suddenly heard snapped from behind her. Glancing back, she saw that Barricade was scowling but staring past her, so where Tornado and Thunder Cloud. The mare turned forward again and spotted two teenagers by the entrance. One was Cara, Barricade’s daughter, the other was an earth pony, blue with silver mane and tail.

The three stallions charged past Snow Heart and towards the two younger ponies. She could see the colt look up, shout an even stronger profanity in shock when seeing who was coming, before bolting off. Tornado and Thunder Cloud continued to chase him, while Barricade reminded by his daughter, neither looked very happy.

“What the Tartarus have I told you about hanging around with that twerp, Cara!?” Barricade growled loudly at his daughter.

“He’s not a twerp! He just so happens to be my friend!” Cara snapped right back, not in the least intimidated by her father.

“This guy is NOT your friend!” Barricade snorted. “You know perfectly well that I don’t want to see him or his ilk around here!”

“What do you care, it’s not like you are any better!” Cara retorted, but then noticed that her father was staring at her bruised cheek. She quickly put a hoof over it, but indigo magic aura from her father pulled it away.

“What happened to your cheek?” he asked, his voice and face becoming darker. “Did he do this?”

“It’s nothing, I just hit my head on my way out this morning,” the pegasus muttered and tried to pull her hoof free from the magic.

“Don’t give me that, I know a hoof slap when I see one!” her father snorted, only to receive a cold glare from the filly.

“Yeah, I’m sure YOU would!” she snorted. The magic aura vanished and Barricade fell silent.

By this time Snow Heart had caught up, but had heard the conversation since both had spoken loudly. The mare stopped, almost curious to see how Barricade would respond to that scathing retort from his daughter.

“Get inside and go to your room, you’re grounded!” Barricade said and this time his voice was low.

Cara opened her mouth to say something but changed her mind, instead she just glared daggers at her father, snorted in frustration and stomped into the apartment building. Barricade hung his head when she was gone, muttering something to himself before going inside. He hadn’t even noticed Snow Heart standing there nearby.

I would say trouble in paradise, but that would imply this is paradise, she thought and took a moment to rest up against the wall.

Tornado and Thunder Cloud returned on the fly, neither looked very happy. The mare figured the colt must have given them the slip. The two pegasi landed by the entrance and Tornado walked straight inside, Thunder halted for a minute and looked at Snow Heart.

“You need any help?” he asked, dropping the frown and assuming a kinder expression.

“I’m fine,” Snow Heart grunted and rose from the wall. Ignoring the pegasus, she waddled inside.

It was at this time that the mare was really relieved that the apartment was on the ground floor. No stairs to battle with while carrying the extra passenger. Not that she wouldn’t stubbornly climb stairs in her condition if she had to, but fortune had at least favored her an easy to reach home.

Upon entering, she could hear a noise in the kitchen. Snow Heart frowned and made her way towards it, she was surprised to see the tall dark gray earth pony in there.

“Tango?” She addressed him and stepped inside. “You’re home early.”

Tango looked up from the newspaper he was reading. The stallion looked tired and there was sadness in his eyes, yet he did his best to smile when seeing the mare, it looked very broken.

“Uh… yeah… they didn’t need me today,” he whispered and the smile dropped. “Actually they don’t need me anymore.”

“You were fired.” Snow Heart sighed when seeing Tango cringe. She walked past the stallion and to the small counter. There she started to prepare tea, straining to use what little magic she had in her broken horn.

“I’m sorry… I just… they didn’t think I was cut out for it… I tried telling them we were expecting a baby but…” Tango fell silent when hearing a snort from the mare.

Snow Heart tried to keep her temper in check, inwardly cringing when the snort managed to escape her lips. She knew it wasn’t Tango’s fault, it was probably her fault. They had probably heard who he was living with and didn’t want to be associated with anyone that knew her.

No matter what I do, I keep being a monster. Destroying lives all around me, she thought and glanced down at her belly. They won’t let a monster keep a foal.

No… no… keep thinking of something else… focus on something else… she chanted in her mind. Slowly the anger passed and the mare could focus on the tea she was making.

“I… met the fillies you knew back in Ponyville, the uh Cutie Mark Crusaders,” Snow Heart mentioned before realizing she had slipped up. She quickly looked back but to her relief Tango only frowned a little in confusion.

“What? What were they doing in Hoofington?” he asked.

“They probably got lost, they were staying with a filly in Hooflyn that was with them,” the mare quickly said, not wanting to bring up what the Crusaders had asked about. Snow returned to her tea, vowing to keep her big mouth shut.

“Probably crusading for a cutie mark.” Tango shook his head and returned to his newspaper.

“No, they had cutie marks,” Snow Heart mentioned, causing the stallion to look at her again.

“Oh right, Mulberry mentioned something about that in one of his letters, I forgot,” he said and furrowed his brow. “I forgot, yeah, maybe they just got lost.”

Snow Heart breathed a sigh in relief. She brought the tea to the table and before sitting down, took off her cloak. She had started to sip on her tea when noticing that Tango still hadn’t returned to his newspaper, he still looked like was thinking.

“They really didn’t tell what they were doing? The Crusaders tended to share whatever they were doing, whether you wanted to know or not,” he wondered and looked at Snow Heart again.

“Somepony noticed I was too close to children and notified Barricade, he and the pegasi brothers showed up and interrupted,” Snow Heart quickly said, Tango sighed and nodded accepting that explanation.

“I’m sorry… wish we didn’t have to live here…” he whispered and the sadness returned to his eyes.

It’s not your fault. Snow Heart looked down at her tea cup.

“They didn’t hurt you?” Tango wondered and scooted closer to the mare.

“No, just the usual scare tactic,” the mare responded, she didn’t react when Tango put a hoof over hers.

“I’ll get another job, they said they were going to recommend me to another firm, we’ll get through this,” he said gently and leaned closer to give the mare a peck on the cheek. Snow still didn’t really respond.

Why do you care about a monster like me? Somepony who hires a killer to abduct a filly, who can’t do anything without ruining lives of other ponies. Snow Heart raised the cup in her shaky magic aura and drank from it. Tango gently caressed her back before scooting away and returned to his newspaper.

Why did Scootaloo care? Snow Heart wondered as she remembered what the young pegasus did.

End Chapter 3