7 - A Diamond In The Big Apple
“Girls, ah did it!” Apple Bloom shouted as she ran up towards her two friends waiting for her in the park. “Ah did it! Ah finally got mah Cutie Mark!”
“No way!” Scootaloo shouted. “For real?”
“For real!”
“That’s so cool!” Sweetie Belle said.
“Ah know, right? Ah can’t believe I never tried it before! It’s so obvious, after all.”
“So what is it?” Scootaloo asked. “Lemme see!”
“Sure! It’s-” Apple Bloom turned her head to look over her shoulder, only to be met with a sharp pain.
“OWWWWW!” Apple Bloom cried as she held her forehead in her forehooves, curling up into a ball and biting her lip to hold back a flood of curse words as she rubbed the sore spot on her head. “Wha’ was that?”
Opening one eye slowly, Apple Bloom found herself lying on the floor inside the abandoned warehouse she had been staying at for the past two days, half of her body still inside her sleeping bag and the other half hanging out.
She looked down at the floor and guessed at what must have happened. “Ah guess ah was rollin’ around in mah sleep… again…” Apple Bloom crawled out of her sleeping bag and took a moment to yawn and let her eyes open completely. As she did so, she recalled the dream that she had just been interrupted from and gasped, snapping her head over her shoulder to check her flank.
“NO!” she cried as she found nothing there. “No no no no NO! Ah was about ta find out what mah special talent was! Darn it!” In her tantrum, Apple Bloom grabbed her pillow and threw it across the room. It landed on Diamond Tiara’s sleeping bag and the yellow filly readied herself for a fight. However, Diamond Tiara did not say a thing.
“Guess she’s a heavy sleeper,” Apple Bloom muttered as she trotted over to retrieve her pillow. She grabbed it in her teeth and pulled it away, revealing an empty sleeping bag underneath it. It was tidied up, and the bag beside it was missing, along with the coat hanging on the wall behind the pillow. “Where’s she gone off to?”
Not even a second later, a knock came at the door. Apple Bloom turned around in time to see the door opening, and smiled as her favourite cousin entered the room. “Good mornin’,” Babs said as she returned Apple Bloom’s smile. She looked over to Diamond’s sleeping bag, only to find that the pink filly was not there. “Diamond?”
Apple Bloom simply shrugged. “Ah guess she went ta use the lil’ filly’s room.”
“I guess so. The public restroom’s just outside, so she should be back soon.” Babs watched as Apple Bloom examined herself in the nearby mirror and started brushing her mane. “We should be gettin’ a response from Ponyville later today.”
“Already?” Apple Bloom asked with an incredulous look on her face.
“Yep. ‘Course we can’t send another letter for a few days. It’s not our pigeon, after all.”
Apple Bloom nodded. “Ah understand. Jus’ as long as mah family know ah’m alright…”
“A letter from Apple Bloom?!” Applejack shouted as she grabbed Shady Daze’s shoulder. “Y’all are tellin’ the truth?!”
“Y-Yeah,” the colt said, sweating as he backed away from the wide-eyed mare leering down at him. “I-It came in from a friend’s carrier pigeon…”
“Where from?” Detective Gumshoe asked, pulling Applejack away from the colt and motioning for her to calm down.
“I… I can’t say,” Shady Daze told him. “He asked me not to tell, so…”
“Now you listen here!” Applejack shouted, only being prevented from grabbing the colt again by Gumshoe’s foreleg. “D’ya realise that two fillies are out missin’ somewhere, Celestia only knows where, an’ that their families are worried sick about them?!”
“Miss Applejack, please calm yourself,” Gumshoe instructed. “Big Macintosh, a little help.”
“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh said as he put a hoof on his sister’s shoulder, giving her a calm, reassuring glance. “Applejack, gettin’ all worked up like this isn’t goin’ ta solve anythin’.”
“But-”
“It’s fine,” Gumshoe said, taking the letter from the colt. “Can we at least send a reply?”
Shady Daze nodded. “Yeah. The letter actually asks for a response to be sent. I’m supposed to wait here for it.”
“I see… Well then, let’s not make the good colt wait.” Gumshoe opened the letter and held it out so that himself, Applejack, and Big Macintosh could all read it together.
“She’s safe!” Applejack shouted, giving a relieved sigh.
“She’s got food an’ money ta last her,” Big Macintosh said as he read further down the letter. “An’ shelter.”
‘She could be making all this up,’ Gumshoe thought to himself. ‘But then, she was able to send a letter via carrier pigeon. I guess she has friends wherever she is… Or perhaps even family.’
“Diamond Tiara is with her!” Applejack shouted as she read the final line at the bottom of the letter. “Somepony should tell Filthy Rich! He’s been a mess ever since Diamond ran away!”
“Ah’ll go,” Big Macintosh said. “Y’all send a reply to Apple Bloom asking her to come home!”
“… Will that really be enough?” Applejack asked herself as she stared at the letter before her. “If simply askin’ her ta come home was enough, then she wouldn’t have run away in the first place.”
“Do it,” Gumshoe said. “It’s worth a try. Better than nothing, at any rate.”
“… Y’all know why she ran away in the first place, right?” Applejack asked.
“I do,” Gumshoe said. “But I’m not going to butt into family affairs. Decide for yourself how you’ll convince her to return. My job is simply to track her down and bring her back, against her will if that is the case.”
“But-”
“It’s a family issue,” Gumshoe said. “I have no authority there.”
“… Alright… Ah’m gonna go write up a reply.”
“One second,” Gumshoe said as he turned around to followed after Applejack. “Attach this to the paper that you use,” he whispered as he reached into his coat, pulling out a small, metallic object. “If you roll the paper up before giving it to the colt, he shouldn’t notice it.”
“What is it?” Applejack asked as she took the strange object from the detective.
“It’s a transmitter,” Gumshoe said. “It’ll only work short distances, but if we prepare a chariot before the letter is sent, we can follow the carrier pigeon back to its owner.”
Applejack gasped. “An’ that’ll lead us to Apple Bloom!” she whispered.
“Exactly. Now hurry. We really don’t want to keep the good colt waiting,” Gumshoe said with a wink. Applejack returned the wink and ran into the farmhouse, more energy in her movements than moments ago. ‘I’d better go with Big Macintosh to Mr. Rich’s manor. Rich as he is, he should have plenty of chariots to spare.’
Apple Bloom scratched her chin as she glared down at the board below her, her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed as she reached a forehoof over the pieces, hovering it for a second before finally grabbing her knight piece.
She moved the piece forward three squares and knocked over Babs’ pawn piece with such force that it also knocked over the bishop behind it. “Take that! Two for the price o’ one!”
“… There’s no way we’re playin’ this right,” Babs said as she frowned at the sight of Apple Bloom’s army dwarfing her own. “So what does the Queen do again?”
“Uh… ah think it can move any number of squares at a time. It can also turn, until it kills somethin’.”
“… So I can do this?” Babs asked, picking up her Queen and sending it onto a merry journey across the board, eventually killing Apple Bloom’s final rook and positioning it just a few squares away from her King. “Check.”
Apple Bloom stared at the board with a look of utter disbelief on her face. “… Darn it, that was a good move.”
Babs gives a satisfied grin and reaches to her side for her drink. As she does so, she realises how quiet it had been during the past ten minutes and glances around the room. “Diamond Tiara’s still not back yet?”
“Who cares?” Apple Bloom asked as she hovered a hoof over the board. “She’s probably out tryin’ on clothes or whatever she does fer ‘fun’.”
“But it’s not safe for a filly like her to be alone ‘round here,” Babs said. “An’ what if she can’t find the way back?”
“Her fault fer goin’ out there by herself,” Apple Bloom said and she moved her pawn two squares to her right. “Yer turn.”
“… I’m gonna go look for her,” Babs said as she rose to her hooves.
“What?! But what ‘bout our game?” Apple Bloom asked.
“We’ll finish it later. C’mon cuz, we can’t jus’ leave her alone out there without knowin’ where she is. What if it was the other way around?”
Apple Bloom put a hoof to her chin. “Diamond would pay you not ta look for me.”
Babs wanted to argue against that, but actually couldn’t find any fault with that reasoning. “Well, maybe…” Babs said. “But that’s why you have to help me find her!”
“… Come again?”
“I mean, if you don’t help me, then it’d mean that you’re the same as her! But by helping me, you’re proving that you’re better than her. Get it?”
“… Darn it. Why’d ya have ta go an’ use yer city-smarts on me?”
Babs smiled as her cousin stood up. “Alright, let’s go! She couldn’t have gone too far!”
“How d’ya intend ta find her?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Same way ya find anythin’ in this city.”
“Hey there,” Babs said as she approached the florist tending to her flowers outside of her shop. “We’re lookin’ for somepony. Pink filly, about my cousin here’s size. Wearin’ a coat and a tiara on her head.” Babs pulled out a packet of cookies and offered them to the mare.
“I’m sorry Miss, but I can’t say I’ve seen anypony like that today,” the florist said as she reached for the cookies.
However, Babs pulled them away and stuffed them back into her bag before the mare could grab them. “That so? Sorry ta bother you then.”
“So lemme get this straight,” Apple Bloom said as she and Babs continued to walk down the street, “Ya find things ‘round here by offerin’ cookies fer information?”
“Not jus’ cookies,” Babs corrected. “But yeah. Money, jewellery, sweets, clothes, information… Pretty much the only way ta find somethin’ ‘round here is ta ask other ponies, and the only way ta get the answers ya want is ta trade for ‘em. Nopony ever gives free info ‘round these parts.”
“Why not?” Apple Bloom asked, a sad look spread across her face. “Don’t the ponies around here like helping their friends?”
“We only live together in the same neighbourhood,” Babs said. “That doesn’t exactly make us all friends. Most of us don’t even know half the ponies we live near to. We jus’ happen to catch glimpses of ‘em walkin’ ‘round every now and then.”
“That’s so sad…” Apple Bloom said.
Babs simply shrugged. “That’s the way it works here. We’re not a small community village like Ponyville is. Crime is an issue here, so we have ta take care with who we make friends with.”
“… Well, ah guess when ya put it that way,” Apple Bloom said. “Still kinda sad though.”
“Excuse me,” Babs said as she approached a colt stacking papers onto a pile. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen a pink filly with a frilly coat and a tiara ‘round here, have ya?” Babs asked, pulling out the packet of cookies from her bag.
The colt examined the cookies and smiled. “Actually, I have,” he said as he reached for the cookies. “Right pretty one she was, though a bit of an attitude problem.”
“Couldn’t be her then,” Apple Bloom said. “Diamond’s ugly as a mule, an’ has a major attitude problem.”
Babs ignored the comment and gave the cookies to the colt. “Sounds like the right pony. Where’d ya see her?”
She was walkin’ into the arcade just ‘round the corner last I saw her,” the colt said. “I tried talkin’ with her but she jus’ gave me ten bits and told me to shut up.”
Babs raised an eyebrow and then turned to Apple Bloom, casting a suspicious look on the filly. “You sure you two weren’t fightin’ this mornin’.”
Apple Bloom, looking just as confused as Babs, shook her head. “Not that ah can recall. Unless ah was fightin’ her in mah sleep.”
“Honestly, the way you two fight, it wouldn’t surprise me,” Babs said with a sigh. “Well, we know where she is now. I’m gonna go look for her.”
“You have fun with that,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah’m gonna go on ahead an’ see if a response has come in yet.”
“Can you remember the way?” Babs asked.
Apple Bloom nodded. “Ah’ve got a pretty good memory when it comes ta directions. Take a left down the end of this street, skip two turns then go right, go up to the water fountain then left, and it’s the big house with the blue roof.”
“… Y-Yeah…” Babs considered if she should really let Apple Bloom go alone or accompany her. “I still think we should go together…”
“Ah’ll be fine! Trust me.”
“Well…”
“C’mon Babs. Ya know me. Ah can take care of mahself without yer help for at least a few minutes.”
“… Alright then,” Babs finally conceded. “But wait for me when ya get there! I want us ta at least walk back together.”
“Sure thing,” Apple Bloom said as she took off down the street. “Ah’ll see ya later!”
Babs waved her hoof after Apple Bloom, stopping when the yellow filly turned around a corner and left her sight. “… Alright, to the arcade then…”
Following the colt’s directions, Babs soon found herself at the arcade that he had described. It wasn’t a big one, but it had a lot of games inside, and it was pretty cosy, too. Babs made a mental note to herself to visit this particular arcade more often, but in the meantime, there was a certain filly that she had to look out for.
Scanning around the arcade, it didn’t take Babs long to find her target sitting at the bar at the back. She walked though the arcade and towards the pink filly, who was sitting on a stool with a depressed look on her face, spinning a strawberry milkshake around in her hoof.
“Hey there,” Babs said as she neared her. She glanced at the milkshake and noticed that it was perspiring and seemed to be melting. “Uh, you okay?”
Diamond Tiara looked up at the filly sitting beside her. “What do you want?”
“Jus’ makin’ sure you’re alright,” Babs said. “Y’know you shoulda left a note if you were goin’ out.”
“… I’m fine. Now go away.”
Babs frowned. “You don’t sound fine.”
“And you don’t sound like you’re going away.”
“Look,” Babs sighed, “I’m worried about ya, alright? Did ya have a fight with Apple Bloom again?”
“No,” Diamond responded.
“Did ya wet the bed and are ashamed ta admit it?”
“No!” Diamond shouted, her face turning red at the mere thought.
“Are ya homesick?” Diamond Tiara hesitated in responding. “I see…”
“No you don’t,” Diamond muttered. “You don’t know anything. Just go away and leave me alone.”
“I can’t do that,” Babs told her.
“And why not?”
“Because like it or not, we were friends once,” Babs said, catching Diamond Tiara off guard and causing her to almost spill her warm milkshake onto the counter. “An’ I don’t know ‘bout you, but those few days we hung out together were fun.”
“… But we’re not friends now.”
“No, but I’d like it if we were,” Babs said. “And I’m gonna put the effort into that, startin’ with this. Findin’ out why you’re so upset an’ helpin’ ya out.”
“… It’s…” Diamond started. “… It’s just that… you know… about the arranged marriage, right?” Babs nodded her head. “… Why did daddy set up that stupid marriage without asking me?”
Babs tilted her head to the side. “I… I’m not very good with business stuff, but-”
“I mean, why did he not take my feelings into consideration?!” Diamond shouted, snapping her head to the side and glaring at Babs. “Doesn’t her care about me at all?! Does he think I should just do whatever he says because he’s my dad?!”
“I-I don’t think it’s anything like that,” Babs said, motioning with her hooves for Diamond to calm down.
“Then what is it?!” Diamond asked, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes. “What if he hates me for running away? What if he’s upset with me for not going along with the arranged marriage?”
Babs noticed the tears and acted quickly, reaching a hoof out and placing it gently on Diamond Tiara’s shoulder. “Is that something you think he’d do?”
“… I don’t know,” Diamond said. “I… I thought that daddy loved me. I still think that, but he… After everything that’s happened, I just don’t know…”
“Do ya wanna go home?” Babs asked. Diamond quickly shook her head.
“I can’t! I can’t go home now! If daddy’s angry, he’ll just yell at me and ground me for life, then find a new partner for me to marry!”
“And if he misses you?” Babs asked. “If he’s just worried about your safety, and wants nothing more than for you to go back home?”
“… I…” Diamond’s tears began to flow faster, and she quickly turned her head and covered her face from Babs’ view. “How would I know something like that? Even if that were the case, he’d still force me to marry somepony I don’t want to marry.”
Babs reached a hoof out and gently held Diamond Tiara as she tried to calm her sobs. She remained silent for a few minutes as she allowed Diamond Tiara to think it out for herself, but also so that she herself could think of a way to help her out.
“How about,” Babs began. “… How about sending another letter by carrier pigeon?” Diamond, her crying now slowed down to simply hiccups, turned to give Babs a questioning look. “I mean, I could ask my friend to send another letter down to Ponyville, asking your dad how he’s feeling… What d’ya think?”
“… I… I still don’t know what I want to do…”
“Well, it’s better than doing nothing, right? And while you’re waiting for a reply, you can think it over.”
Diamond Tiara thought it over a few seconds more, and then nodded. “Y-Yeah… I guess so…” The two slid off of their stools and turned towards the arcade door, walking side-by-side together as they left. “You know… for a blank flank, you’re not half-bad…”
“And for a prissy lil’ rich kid,” Babs said, blowing her fringe out of her face, “You’re actually half-cool.”
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And then they kissed.
No way, no freakin' way would a cop ever allow "He asked me not to tell" to fly. He's witholding information that would help find missing children? That's jail time right there. It's at least contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and a really crafty lawyer with an axe to grind might even be able to upgrade that to accessory to kidnapping.
3210098
Well in this case, he's only allowing it to fly because he can resolve the situation much quicker (and with far fewer headaches and crying colts) by simply using the transmitter instead. Keep in mind Gumshoe doesn't exactly get much work in lil' ol' Ponyville, so he's probably looking for any chance to make the case more fun and interesting.
Of course the fact that he's one of the only two cops in Ponyville, and that he's really only there as a legal requirment already draws the competency of the Ponyville Precinct into question, too :P