//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Bucklyn Bound // Story: Babs' Dilemma // by Yoshi89 //------------------------------// Chapter 5: Bucklyn Bound A fresh breeze flew through Babs Seed's mane, flapping her bangs in all sorts of directions as the taxi pulled her and her friend across the Bucklyn Bridge. She looked behind her to see the wind combing Middlemist's once poofy mane into straight strands. Babs then looked through the lower skyline of Manehattan's shimmering steel and chrome bathing in the sun and contrasted it to the dreary sandstone buildings of the outer borough. Poney Island near the southern tip of Bucklyn stuck out like a sore foreleg with its roller coasters, boardwalk and docks. A double bump of the taxi's wheels rocked her awake and the two in the taxi flew off her seats for a second. Both let out a whoop to the amusement of the driver. "Watch out!" he barked. "That bump's always a doozy." The two fillies blushed and let out a soft giggle as the driver looked at the cobblestone road off the bridge ahead of him. All kinds of buildings littered the streets as the taxi traversed through town from palatial brownstone houses on one strip to red brick apartment buildings on another to an abandoned block-wide factory with wiped out windows on yet another. The vehicle passed a few townsponies—mostly earth ponies just like Manehattan—walking, eating at fruit stands or talking with their neighbors. "How much further?" Middlemist called out. "Hay Ridge, right?" the driver yelled back. "Yeah," Babs and Middlemist answered in unison. "Almost there," the driver assured them. "About ten more blocks." "Do you come here often?" Babs asked. "Sometimes," the driver replied. "It depends on where my passengers want to go." "Know of any hot spots?" Middlemist wanted to know. "We're coming to a great burger joint ahead," the driver said. "I've been coming here more often since they got this new cook." "New cook, huh?" Babs said. She heard her stomach growl over the taxi's rattling over the cobblestones. "We might as well try it out. I'm getting hungry myself." "Okay, right here," the driver gestured with his hoof. He crossed an intersection and pulled the taxi over to a storefront on one corner. Babs and Middlemist could see a flag flying in the breeze with a picture of a hayburger and an oatburger. Beneath the flag on the store's magenta awning, the golden words "Hay Ridge Burgers & Fries" reflected off Celestia's sunlight. "Thanks again!" Babs called. The taxi driver saluted Babs and Middlemist as they hopped off the seat and then pulled away. Babs pulled open the door to the restaurant, exposing its light tan wallpaper rising over wooden paneling along with its neatly arranged wooden chairs and leather booths. A yellow young earth pony mare in a white paper hat and apron stood in front of the cash register, striking up a conversation with a middle aged unicorn customer. Seated across from each other in the inner corner to Babs' left were two local colts about her age. The first was a pegasus with a peach-colored coat and a straight dark brown mane partially hidden by a baseball cap. The other was a light gray earth pony with a messy grass-colored mane. They both sat at the table, the pegasus on a chair with the earth pony across from him on the bench, talking to each other. Babs walked down the aisle and cleared her throat, the two colts stopping to look at her. "Excuse me," Babs said with Middlemist approaching her side. "We're looking for a colt. His name's Fudge Cookie." Babs could have sworn she saw a mirror in front of her. The pair of colts looked at each other and back at her at the same time. "Fudge?" the pegasus asked, breaking off the not so identical reflection. "Yeah, do you know him?" Middlemist asked. "Know him?" the other colt repeated before saying, "We go to school with Fudge." "Okay, good," Babs said. "He's not in our grade, though," the pegasus told her. "He's a year younger than us." "Do you know anything about him?" Babs wanted to know. "Fudge's mom makes some pretty good cookies," the pegasus added. "I think that's how he got his name." "He's been acting kinda strange lately, though," the earth pony told his friend. "Don't you think, Heat Engine?" "I don't know, Spear Leaf," the pegasus, Heat Engine, said as he shook his head. "He hasn't been the same since his best friend got his cutie mark." Out of the corner of his eye, Spear Leaf could see Babs swishing her tail on her flank, prompting him to turn her way. Middlemist abashedly looked the other way. "Are you all right?" Spear Leaf asked Babs. "Oh, I'm fine," Babs blurted with a giggle. "Order up!" The four foals looked to the back of the restaurant where a pair of metallic double doors swung open. A mustard-colored unicorn colt with a wavy blond mane emerged from the kitchen's entrance, levitating a tray of two oatburgers and a haystack-shaped portion horseshoe fries. Babs and Middlemist stepped aside to let the young waiter place the food on top of the table and the two colts tore right into the food. "Excuse me," Babs asked the unicorn, "do you know Fudge Cookie?" "Fudge? Yeah, I do." he said with a nod. "Can we talk to you?" Babs asked. "Well, I break in a little while," he said. "I suppose my boss won't mind." The unicorn colt led Babs and Middlemist to the front of the restaurant, letting Spear Leaf and Heat Engine eat their lunch in peace. Babs covered her flank with her tail again as she glanced at the unicorn's upper hind leg, partially exposed by his flapping apron. She saw his cutie mark for the first time—a shiny silver spatula with a black grip—before darting her eyes at the other two little ponies. Her eyes widened when she saw they were blank flanks just like her and Middlemist. She kept her own flank covered and watched Middlemist's own as the three ponies took their seats at another table. "We ran into him and Sundae today in Manehattan," Babs explained. "I wanted to make friends with Sundae but I said some things I shouldn't have said and I hurt their feelings. I want to apologize to Fudge because they were about him." "Sundae's like that sometimes," he said. "She's very protective of him. They're inseparable, those two." "If I had a twin brother, I'd act the same way around him," Babs said with her head down. "Where do they live?" Middlemist asked. Babs picked her head up, hoping the colt did not hear her gasp. The colt was about to speak when Babs saw the same young mare at the register waving her hoof at him. "Hey, kid!" she called. "We've got orders to fill!" "Coming!" the colt yelled back as the cashier swung the double doors and disappeared behind them. The colt looked at Babs and said, "Here, let me give you his dad's card. It's a home office so Fudge lives there." He hopped off his chair and trotted to the counter. Babs and Middlemist followed him until he opened the flap and slithered through. The fillies could hear a drawer clunking open followed by papers shuffling and the colt muttering softly to himself. "Here it is!" he exclaimed. The colt grunted as he hoisted himself above the counter and held out a small business card with his unicorn magic. "Here, take this," he told them. "I need to get back to work." "Thanks!" Babs called out, as the colt dropped the card on her hoof. She and Middlemist waved at him and he smiled back before entering the double doors. Babs looked down at the card which had two names printed across the top and their professions—Fussbudget and Refund Check: Certified Pony Accountants. "Refund's his dad," Heat Engine called out to her. Babs and Middlemist looked over at him and Spear Leaf, almost forgetting that they were still in the restaurant. Two empty plates rested on their table as Spear Leaf wiped his muzzle with his napkin. Middlemist glanced over at the card, picked up the address in her mind and turned back to the colts. "Where's 415 Avenue P?" she asked. "Not too far from here," Spear Leaf answered, hobbling off the bench. He crossed the fillies' paths and pointed outside with his hoof. "We're on Avenue M. You have to go three blocks south. You can't miss the place." "Great," Babs said. "We'd better get going, Middlemist." The two fillies strolled across the restaurant floor and Babs pushed the door to let Middlemist out first. Babs waved to the two colts who waved back as she closed the door. "See if his mom can make you some cookies!" she heard Heat Engine call to her from the window. "They're really good." Babs stayed to watch Spear Leaf glaring at Heat Engine. The pegasus raised his brow, raised his forelegs and asked, "What?" Babs giggled at the exchange before sticking the business card behind her ear and trotting after Middlemist, slowing her pace when she caught up.